Because I as well want to protect Mike. Allow me to retry. Mike has already learnt his past. Wouldn't you want it to go differently?
“I can’t stop you”
Which is another reason why you should trust me. What would you want me to do differently. I could just transport and go back in time but I have decided not to.
He sighs
”there’s some memories in the tavern that he keeps covered, uncover them 1 at a time and give him time to adjust, also bring fire power. You’ll need it”
Why? Because of the personality that shall not be named?
“What do you think Godhunter’s gain in this is”
possible not having to keep secretes, You ask him
“He spend the last year after being abandoned by his allies hunting down everyone who was against him. I don’t think he wants mike to be well or at least not a version of it that we recognize”
"I made a knife sentiant, and can use telepathy with it. Thats all i've discovered so far"
*So, the power stone is the most destructive overall, but the mind stones lazer melted a building.*
“Have you tried to read people’s minds?”
"No, but good suggestion," He writes it down in a notepad.
“How about blocking senses, like making them unable to see you”
He writes that down as well, "Also no. Do you have a stone?"
“Nope, I wasn’t here when they were being handed out”
"I just randomly found mine."
“Interesting, anyways you should probably learn how to use your stone. With power like that there is going people looking for it. People who won’t ask nicely”
"I made a knife sentiant, and can use telepathy with it. Thats all i've discovered so far"
*So, the power stone is the most destructive overall, but the mind stones lazer melted a building.*
“Have you tried to read people’s minds?”
"No, but good suggestion," He writes it down in a notepad.
“How about blocking senses, like making them unable to see you”
He writes that down as well, "Also no. Do you have a stone?"
“Nope, I wasn’t here when they were being handed out”
"I just randomly found mine."
“Interesting, anyways you should probably learn how to use your stone. With power like that there is going people looking for it. People who won’t ask nicely”
He pulls out the stone, which is glowing, "I think i'll be fine. Mind control is pretty strong, and i've slowly been working on my... other abilities"
"I made a knife sentiant, and can use telepathy with it. Thats all i've discovered so far"
*So, the power stone is the most destructive overall, but the mind stones lazer melted a building.*
“Have you tried to read people’s minds?”
"No, but good suggestion," He writes it down in a notepad.
“How about blocking senses, like making them unable to see you”
He writes that down as well, "Also no. Do you have a stone?"
“Nope, I wasn’t here when they were being handed out”
"I just randomly found mine."
“Interesting, anyways you should probably learn how to use your stone. With power like that there is going people looking for it. People who won’t ask nicely”
He pulls out the stone, which is glowing, "I think i'll be fine. Mind control is pretty strong, and i've slowly been working on my... other abilities"
“Never count on mind control, you know the saying might makes right, well the opposite is true as well. If your cause is right people will be willing to help you but stuff like mind control makes it harder to trust people”
Kolre fluffs his feathers. "Alrighty then, you asked for it. Ingress, you start, right? I wasn't there for the first bit..."
Ingress clears his throat. "Well. I guess... we should start at the beginning, no?
"At first, there was nothing. Then, everything. The God, Mandor, sprung into being, born of the Universe herself- No? Too much? Too much. Not that far back. Boo... fine.
I was born in the sky. Atop the clouds, soaring through the air, looking down at the world below... in more ways than one, I suppose. The Temple of the Everborn Sun was... an interesting place to grow up. The followers of Leanis were a pious group, permitting none to stray from their fold. I was indoctrinated, of course. Born into the order of the sun. I... loved it. Order. Peace. I believed I was perfect, that me and my friends were right. How... how naive we were, that the world was in simple blacks and golds. There are other colors... greys. Blues. Reds. Purples. Yellows. Greens. So much life, so much love... and I knew none of it. My life was that of a cloistered acolyte, content to believe in superiority and religious perfection.
I had friends. I had a family. The Thals, long departed from the rabble of the lower mountains, dwelled in the skies. My best friends lived there too, above the rest. Balorn, a scholar of the planes. Lavis, our group's resident paladin. Dorn. That sick... avahlet. Tarahs. And Kevae... joyous, perfect, Kevae. I still miss them. Or, at least, most of them. We got in a fair bit of trouble, our little squad! Running about in our own personal paradise... it seemed like it would last forever. But, it didn't. It fell so fast... crumbling about me. My world, my life, gone in an instant.
The clouds still remain, of course. The Temple still soars. But I cannot stand there. I could, but I won't. Not again. Not after what they did.
I was... fifteen, I think? I don't remember all of the details... it was late. The sun was setting, bathing our world in a pink and orange glow... I heard shouts. Screams. I ran out, weapon in hand... and there she was. There they all were. Kevae, in chains. Balorn, in chains. Lavis... he was on the floor, bleeding from his side. So much blood... And Dorn. Standing above them, standing with the Knights, the holy men. They said... something. I... don't remember. Gods, I wish I could remember... But I ran. They chased me, but I was faster than them... I knew the land, the shortcuts, the passages. I escaped. I hid. I cried. Then I watched as my friends were dragged to the church. Brought before the voices of the gods.
They were judged. I couldn't hear the proceedings, but I saw them... in the end, they were guilty. I got that much. There was celebration, of all things. I don't know why... I wish I did. At the end, they were brought to the edge. Staring into the sky, the ground below. And then they... they...
Balorn fell first. I wasn't expecting it... why would I? I had seen such things happen before, but it was always a punishment for traitors... spies, heretics, madmen. Not my friends, not loyal citizens... but he still fell. Dorn did it himself. I can see his face... hard. Firm. Uncaring. I saw the sun in his eyes, burning with primordial hatred... Balorn hit the ground hard. He died quickly. He told me, decades later, in a sea of fire and flame.
Lavis tried to fight back, the fool. He was already hurt. It didn't take much. He was dead before he left the clouds. He came to me, in smoke and ash, crying in pain.
I had worked my way into the crowd by that point, hidden in the vestments of the clergy... Kevae was on the edge. Dorn was... on the edge. And then I was on the edge. And then we weren't.
I don't remember landing. I just remember the fall... shock in their faces as we all plummeted off the edge... fear in my heart, fear in my friend's, fear in my enemy's. The nothing.
The next they I can remember is flashes. Darkness, permeating the darkness of my eyes. A greater void. Then lights. Suns... and flames. Infernal braziers, burning with self-righteous hate. Celestial lanterns, shining in benediction... and between. The ravens. The Raven. She was so beautiful... standing there in prematerial glory, black hair stretching to infinity, filling the void. She wore a mask... white. Cracked. And she saw me... I know not how I know, but I do. And she... she smiled. Somehow, through the mask, through the void, through the endless nothing... she smiled at me.
And then I was awake. On the ground. Touching true stone for the first time. And no-one was there... no-one alive, at least. I saw Dorn... gods, I saw Dorn. But Kevae was gone, nowhere to be found. No trace. I never found her. Never heard her voice. I heard Dorn's, though. Screaming at me in righteous hatred. But I never found Kevae... Instead, I found this. This pendant... around my neck. I can't take it off... I've never tried. Never will.
I'm still not sure how I'm alive. I wandered for days... weeks, even. I don't know. I didn't eat. I was so hungry... I was in the wastes. Plateaus... mesa. There was a river that I followed. I think it kept me alive. There weren't people... it was barren. No life. The sun, once this beacon of religion and righteousness, had turned into a sickening, burning death. But I walked.
When I saw a humanoid, I was on my last legs. Probably had been for a while. But they were kind. They showed pity on me, took me to their home. A small family lived there... goblins, I think. They were so kind... they didn't have enough. I learned much that day. War raged, and the land I lived in needed soldiers. And soldiers needed food. The family had... gods, I can't even remember their names... they had given all they could. And then, when they could give no more... they were evicted. Cast into the Curan wastes.
I made a choice that night. I couldn't stay, I knew that... they wouldn't live. But they wouldn't live regardless.
Their food lasted me for two weeks.
Those weeks allowed me to escape. I made it out. They... didn't. I've seen their souls. They came to me... so many years later...
But I had survived the wastes. I had reached grassland, the hills of Crekehq. I was still hard pressed to survive... there were some close calls, what with Elementals and all that. A troll or two. I ran, mostly. Eventually, I made it to a settlement. Reving's Hill. I lived there for... two years? Three? I was a shepherd, a farmer, a merchant. I had a life there, so different from the one before. I didn't make friends. Not again. Not after last time. But I eked out a living. But, inevitably, I came close. I started to like people there, and they started to like me. And I was terrified! I left again, saying one last goodbye. I left into the hills, seeking... peace. Solace. An answer to my questions.
Reving's Hill was destroyed two years later, torn apart by a wandering Elder Tempest. Their souls came to me, same as the rest.
I walked for a day. A week. Two. Five. Weeks turned into months, months into a year. I saved a flock of sheep from death. Their shepherd had died in a landslide...I saw it happen. He confirmed it himself, years later.
The sheep kept me company, as I traveled the land. I met fellow travelers, some more than once. Many remembered me fondly. I know, for they told me so, years later.
And I found what I was looking for. A crater. Miles and miles of scorched earth. In the center, a wreckage... the skeleton of an ancient behemoth, a jewel of the sky. Ibcremis. The Fallen City.
I left the sheep behind, released into the wilderness. I don't know what happened to them. I wish I did.
And then I entered. The cracks spread from the center, vast crevasses of red rock. It took me day and three nights to find my way... time, as I realized, did not follow a set path there. And when I finally reached the city, I was greeted, not by silence, but my song. Birds. The Kenku.
I was surprised, of course. As were they. But we soon established a shared language, and we shared our stories. Their people were the last survivors of the city; the ones who had lived through the fall countless years ago. They had lost their language, their creativity, their wings. In the years that passed, however, they recovered. They were saved... by Ravens. Their wings are still broken, shattered beyond repair, but their voices are beautiful, their architecture a sight to behold. And when I told them of my dealings with the Raven herself, they were... well, awed isn't the right word. Frightened, maybe?
Feelings aside, I was taken to their church. Their temple. I told my story, and was received. I was given a home, heralded as a new follower. Welcomed with open arms, I hid in their libraries, apart from others. A recluse. I was nearly forgotten, lost to the tomes... but one remembered. He I remember. Nevwer. He was kind to me... a father in all ways but name. He ran the library where I spent my time. He helped me survive, when I should have died alone in the night. Instead, I lived with him, in the dusk. I learned much those years, hiding away in the shelves. Together, we searched out lost books, forgotten stories, disregarded histories. We were scholars, hidden in the twilight of those stacks. We were visionaries, laying out plans for vast, never seen cities of knowledge. And, in the end, we were friends, bonded by that past, that knowledge, that none others could possess.
I still remember the day I found it. We had been working long, and it was nearing six-hour. And then, there it was. At the end of the rows, atop its own pedestal. I could feel it before I saw it... an icy cold at the back of my neck, a burning in my heart, a memory in my mind. The memory of a white mask, a black void, and ravens. And there it was. The holy book, the holiest of books. The Book of Memories, from which the first Priest had read the words of his Queen. Long thought lost, the book was found. I was heralded as a hero, and I shared my joy with Nevwer.
I was pulled away. Pulled from my books, my world, my dusk. My friend. He died, years later, cold and alone in the darkness. I know, because he came to me.
But I was a priest. A savior. My name echoed throughout the city, at all endless times. I was given access to the church's resources, to further my independent studies. I was not to be disturbed. I pored over the book, what was my right... I could read it. I saw its teachings, its boons, my boons. I was the wisest of the wise, the leader of their church. Nobody said so, of course. But I knew. We all did. I was free to do what i liked...
And I did. I did good things, great things. I built schools. Farms. Explored and renovated long lost wings of the city. My life was perfect, in all ways.
And I hated it.
Sure, it was fun at first, but I got tired. Then I got bored. Then I got angry. Why did they have to ask me their questions? Why did I always have to have the answers? I didn't care about them, their plights. I didn't care about anything! I couldn't escape, of course. Not truly. I couldn't bring myself to leave this world, this paradise. I kept telling myself that it would get better, that it would stop... it didn't.
It had been that way for years when I finally snapped. I broke my vows of nonviolence. I killed... many. When my head cleared, much of my wing of the city was aflame. Most though I was dead... and I believed them. I didn't know myself. I didn't know if I was alive or dead, i didn't know my mind, and I didn't know my soul. So I ran.
Again.
Two thousand, five hundred, and seventy-two. That's how many died due to my actions. Nearly a tenth of the city's population. They wailed into my mind that day, thousands of souls screaming in pain. I can still hear them... all of their names. So many names, so many deaths, so many ways to end a life.
It's been... three years? since then. I still don't have answers, I still don't have peace. I'm still searching for a way to be forgiven. To forgive myself. I found Kolre through my journeys, a channeling of my power into a servant of the Raven Queen. I hope it means she still cares for me. You never will tell me, will you?"
"Nope!"
"Lewen."
"Yep!"
"I appreciate your help with the story."
"Yeah, you nearly missed a few things. Idiot."
"Heh." He turns back to Arty. "Was that to your liking, young one? Did you enjoy me tale? I hope not. It is not a happy story. I pray that yours will be brighter, once it begins."
Arty looks at him, a half eaten biscuit in her mouth. "That's a... I feel... I don't know what to say to that."
"I made a knife sentiant, and can use telepathy with it. Thats all i've discovered so far"
*So, the power stone is the most destructive overall, but the mind stones lazer melted a building.*
“Have you tried to read people’s minds?”
"No, but good suggestion," He writes it down in a notepad.
“How about blocking senses, like making them unable to see you”
He writes that down as well, "Also no. Do you have a stone?"
“Nope, I wasn’t here when they were being handed out”
"I just randomly found mine."
“Interesting, anyways you should probably learn how to use your stone. With power like that there is going people looking for it. People who won’t ask nicely”
He pulls out the stone, which is glowing, "I think i'll be fine. Mind control is pretty strong, and i've slowly been working on my... other abilities"
“Never count on mind control, you know the saying might makes right, well the opposite is true as well. If your cause is right people will be willing to help you but stuff like mind control makes it harder to trust people”
"Don't mean to sound like the bad guy, but if they are unable to think how i don't want them to, i don't need trust"
“He spend the last year after being abandoned by his allies hunting down everyone who was against him. I don’t think he wants mike to be well or at least not a version of it that we recognize”
Mostly nocturnal
help build a world here
“Those rocks are powerful apart but together they can permanently change Reality”
Mostly nocturnal
help build a world here
(Good night)
Mostly nocturnal
help build a world here
"I'm pretty sure some can anyways. But what do you mean by change reality"
I play a miriad of characters at the lord's rest inn
Two things are infinite: The universe, and human stupidity; and I'm not so sure about the universe.
Scifi horror is quite the trip :) Comics and a story
#FreeDND
“Remake it in your image. I’d call them a god but most gods can’t do that”
Mostly nocturnal
help build a world here
"Thats... interesting. Btw, for no reason, do you know who has the other stones? Besides meroving of course, they have the time one."
I play a miriad of characters at the lord's rest inn
Two things are infinite: The universe, and human stupidity; and I'm not so sure about the universe.
Scifi horror is quite the trip :) Comics and a story
#FreeDND
“No idea, anyways what powers besides mind control does it have?”
Mostly nocturnal
help build a world here
"I made a knife sentiant, and can use telepathy with it. Thats all i've discovered so far"
*So, the power stone is the most destructive overall, but the mind stones lazer melted a building.*
I play a miriad of characters at the lord's rest inn
Two things are infinite: The universe, and human stupidity; and I'm not so sure about the universe.
Scifi horror is quite the trip :) Comics and a story
#FreeDND
“Have you tried to read people’s minds?”
Mostly nocturnal
help build a world here
"No, but good suggestion," He writes it down in a notepad.
I play a miriad of characters at the lord's rest inn
Two things are infinite: The universe, and human stupidity; and I'm not so sure about the universe.
Scifi horror is quite the trip :) Comics and a story
#FreeDND
“How about blocking senses, like making them unable to see you”
Mostly nocturnal
help build a world here
He writes that down as well, "Also no. Do you have a stone?"
I play a miriad of characters at the lord's rest inn
Two things are infinite: The universe, and human stupidity; and I'm not so sure about the universe.
Scifi horror is quite the trip :) Comics and a story
#FreeDND
“Nope, I wasn’t here when they were being handed out”
Mostly nocturnal
help build a world here
"I just randomly found mine."
I play a miriad of characters at the lord's rest inn
Two things are infinite: The universe, and human stupidity; and I'm not so sure about the universe.
Scifi horror is quite the trip :) Comics and a story
#FreeDND
“Interesting, anyways you should probably learn how to use your stone. With power like that there is going people looking for it. People who won’t ask nicely”
Mostly nocturnal
help build a world here
He pulls out the stone, which is glowing, "I think i'll be fine. Mind control is pretty strong, and i've slowly been working on my... other abilities"
I play a miriad of characters at the lord's rest inn
Two things are infinite: The universe, and human stupidity; and I'm not so sure about the universe.
Scifi horror is quite the trip :) Comics and a story
#FreeDND
“Never count on mind control, you know the saying might makes right, well the opposite is true as well. If your cause is right people will be willing to help you but stuff like mind control makes it harder to trust people”
Mostly nocturnal
help build a world here
Arty looks at him, a half eaten biscuit in her mouth. "That's a... I feel... I don't know what to say to that."
Chilling kinda vibe.
"Don't mean to sound like the bad guy, but if they are unable to think how i don't want them to, i don't need trust"
I play a miriad of characters at the lord's rest inn
Two things are infinite: The universe, and human stupidity; and I'm not so sure about the universe.
Scifi horror is quite the trip :) Comics and a story
#FreeDND
Bloom walks over to steph (If they're in the main room), "Hey, can i ask you something?"
I play a miriad of characters at the lord's rest inn
Two things are infinite: The universe, and human stupidity; and I'm not so sure about the universe.
Scifi horror is quite the trip :) Comics and a story
#FreeDND