Crystalline Undeath [Closed to Rehtul and Crystal]

[Celandine]

"I'm okay."

The reply was good. Positive. It meant well things and that Celandine hadn't caused too much of an issue. And briefly she was sure she saw the being shift and two other pairs of arms appeared. As she adjusted herself, taking a couple of steps back in surprise she smiled awkwardly, brushing down her heavy woollen jumper.

"Sorry again though! I didn't mean -" and she paused, frowning a little as she thought about the extra arms vanishing, making the young looking woman go back to her previous form. Six arms ... That had been her vision last night. Yet, intriguingly, that was only part of this creature's identity. It seemed she had some form of disguise magic.

How interesting ...

"Philomel?"

There was a voice behind her. Celandine turned to see someone else - a very confused looking blue-haired man oddly gazing her at. He seemed confused, and even more confused as she turned to face him and he could see her full profile. Awkwardly she smiled, lifting her hands and patting her shorter horns.

"No, no. Although I do get that fairly often. Philomel is my mother. Weirdly." She looked uncertain. The connection to the infamous faun of fauns was not exactly beneficial in every society. Everyone had an opinion of her mother, whether they hated the fact she was leader of the feminist guild of the world or she had slept with their mother's brother's cousin.

Just then though someone else strode up.

"Goodness, this is a busier library than I expected!" Celandine said with surprise. "Flameo!" She nodded politely to the red-haired mage behind this confused man, but did not forget the beautiful creature she had initially bumped into.

"Ah sorry!" She tried to move back to let everyone into the conversation. "I - I'm Celandine." She tucked a stray hair behind her ear and looked as adorable as she could accidentally muster.

[Rehtul Orlouge]

"Her daughter, huh? I had heard something about her having one," Rehtul mentioned as he beheld the young faun. It wasn't every day that he could come across someone of that race, much less one who defaulted to acting cute and shy when in what one could consider a tough situation.

"Eh, it doesn't really matter. I am an acquaintance of hers. I was simply surprised to see who I thought to be her here in Raiaera when as I understand it she doesn't leave her home much these days," he said as he scratched the back of his head.

Noticing the woman she was speaking to for the first time, he nodded to the both of them.

"You and Felicity know each other, though? That is intriguing. I'd not know the world was so small."

He then blanched slightly before saying, "Pardon my lack of manners. My name is Rehtul Orlouge."

[Flamebird]

Felicity felt a but dumbfounded at everything going on. She blinked, hanging back a bit more. A lifetime of mistreatment, even by her loved ones, had caused her to develop strong trust issues and a sense of wariness that had worsened this past year. She still stood aloof from the rest of the group, nodding to Rehtul and Celandine, but ignoring the fae. The young woman sighed, looking over to the bookshelves and starting to run her fingers over the books on the shelf closest to her.

"Yeah. We met before." She mumbled absently.

When Rehtul introduced himself, Felicity reluctantly threw her name to the fold, "I'm Felicity Rhyolite."

After leaving the Brotherhood and its fancy titles behind, her introductions simply felt too short. Felicity looked over to Rehtul and continued to follow his lead... from a distance. She looked to the bookshelves again and found herself skimming through the titles. Meenlocks - Embodiment of Fear, The Terrors of the Mind, Mind Control and The Usefulness of Harnessing the Victim's Fear. Were all these books about topics related to fear? She frowned. She came here to face her fears, yes, but right now she was standing apart from the rest of the group and flinching from the prospect of... people.

She sighed, wondering how Leoric would regard this behavior?

Felicity pulled a brave face, as if doing something huge, and walked over to stand next to Rehtul. She was short and stocky, muscular, compared to the ice mage. Her red hair reached down to her waistline, let down and a but tangled. Despite all the clothes meant to prevent being cut, it was obvious this girl was fit and powerful. She repeatedly reached back and pulled some hair behind her ear, a nervous twitch. The usually bubbly and outgoing girl looked to Rehtul with a look that said I'm wary, you take charge.

[Sugarp1e1]

"Seriously, just who are these mortals?"

There was an air of magic in all of them, if the Faerie was being honest with herself. There was no chance that the Sway would hire mages, would they? They hate magic. But she couldn't ignore the power she felt from them, the blue-haired one in particular, and they most certainly weren't fae.

They looked too...boorish. And their magic felt...unnatural.

The blue-hair and the faun seemed to have their magical energy stagnate around them from previous use, rather than emanate innately from within. As for the red-hair, her magic seemed to be intrinsic to her being just as a faerie's is, but it also seemed to have been tainted by something. Whatever that "something" was, the Faerie didn't know, but it was all the same to the her; these three carried a borderline bastardization of something that came so naturally to the Fae. Raw power notwithstanding, these creatures were definitely nothing more than mere mortals.

"Why would they come here? To me? The faun seems harmless enough, but for two more to arrive immediately after? Even if they've nothing to do with the Sway, surely they're after something from me."

Believing the Sway to have connections outside of Salvar, the Faerie made it a point to never interact with anybody of any race. Not even fellow fae, but that's for a much more personal reason. So when she wasn't being hunted down by magic-hating brutes, the Faerie often became a target of others with their own agendas in mind. Some merely knew a hunter the Faerie had punished and sought revenge, others wanted her blood for potions or some other experiment.

More still believed her to be a perfect victim for the most disgusting of evils. Even more just wanted to pick a fight for any valuables she might have or for no reason at all.

The Faerie had punished them all. Every last one.

If she was to survive, this was to be. And if she was to stay sane, she had to love it.

Mist still emerged from the Faerie's being as she stared at the faun, the puddle of sleet forming beneath her betraying her sense of disgust.

"Just what is this goat thing playing at? Is she trying to let my guard down?"

"These mortals are all the same."
"But she's not doing anything wrong."
"Being cute is a crime now?"
"Fight! Fight! Fight!"
"You're not seriously going to kill her, are you?"

No. No, she wasn't.

The Faerie knew exactly what to do with the faun. And she wasn't going to lay a finger on her to do it.

Then again, she wasn't going to lay a finger on the one who concerned her the most either. The red-hair, however, can wait.

Trying her best not to bare her fangs, the Faerie began to scratch at her right cheek in anticipation. Her claws, not visible to the mortals but still very much sharp, made a hiss-like sound across her skin.

"I'm Crystal." she said.

Her claws dug deeper into her own flesh.

"Crystal..."

They dug yet deeper.

"...Platinumsound."

Finally, her cheek was open. Her thick black blood oozed from the wounds like tar.

The ground shook for but a moment, before several icicles the size of large stalagmites shot up from the earth, each one set to put the blue-hair on a pike.

[Celandine]

Whatever the hell was going on, however the hells it was happening, Celandine had no idea. It was sudden, the change of atmosphere - from a peaceful library meeting to this violent escapade. She had been enjoying this greeting of people, of those who were a part of her past, becoming one of her present and likely her future.

She frowned a little at the icey environment, admidst all the wonder of masses of books and knowledge. Poisonous emotions clung to the air like a mist, and she felt the ground chill before the icicles exploded. One shriek - "watch out!" - she cried.

Did this Crystal person know Rehtul? It was odd, uncertain but the way they had greeted one another suggested not. But now she was attacking him! Celandine pressed herself right back against the shelves, turning her head to keep herself from any mergance of future harm.

This was a fight she did not want to be a part of. In a place entirely inappropriate.

"Watch the books!" She cried.

[Rehtul Orlouge]

The air hung heavily with the animosity of the small woman that Celandine had been talking with before Rehtul had rudely interrupted. As the woman began to introduce herself, the evidence of magical energy infusing the area became incontrivertable. As the blood dripped from her fingers, Rehtul could feel a crescendo of magical power in the ground beneath him.

With little more than a wave of his hand, he summoned an inch thick sheet of ice in front of his body and felt the spikes of ice that erupted from the ground bounce harmlessly into it. His eyes creased as his mouth bent downward in a scowl. He hadn't done anything to deserve this treatment, yet this woman had attacked him?

"Unforgiveable," he said softly as he brought the sheet of ice up to his right hand and shaped it into a large spear. "You would attack a person completely unprovoked?!"

His left hand raised up next to his head and he snapped. In less than a second, eleven more spears of ice appear behind him, floating in the air and all pointed directly at the smaller creature. Their crystalline structures bent the light and cast small rainbows upon the books and the assembled group. The other visitors in the library had begun clearing out of the area, and the librarians were panickedly trying to collect the books left out on the floor without getting involved.

"Watch the books!" echoed through the shelves, a plea from the young faun woman. A sigh escaped Rehtul's lips as he turned toward the nearest door.

"You want this? I'll be waiting outside."

With that he summoned a small disc of ice under his feet and glided toward the exit to the courtyard outside of the library. He'd be damned if he was going to allow some random person attacking him to destroy the knowledge contained within that building, at least not until he'd had copies of every book in there added to his personal collection.

[Flamebird]

Felicity winced, holding her aching side as she looked up to her mentor. She was unable to clearly see her surroundings, her memory was so blurred and jagged. Forms and shapes slithered and mingled behind her abuser. A thin, cloaked woman held her sword by the blade, having just murderstroked Felicity for the slightest wrong actions. As she took the hilt of her sword, she spat, "I told you not to interrupt me!"

Felicity blinked the tears back, looking next to her, at the dead brigand she had tried to prevent her from killing. Felicity heard footsteps and turned her head, seeing the remaining two brigands dashing in front of their protected black market cargo, which she was unable to identify in her haze.

"Just who do you think you are!" The first one spat.

The other one choked a cry, "How dare you kill Mike!"

The woman chuckled, casually standing there with a smirk beneath her hood, "You are criminals. Nothing more than cattle deserving of slaughter." She stepped forward, brandishing her sword.

One of the guards took a step back, the other foolishly holding his own sword up, "Stand back! I'm warning you!"

Felicity knew what was coming. Their doom. Tears fell from her eyes as she watched her mentor's next culling.

"I am Ayleth," the woman declared in a bold, cold tone, "The Executioner of the Wicked. It is time for you to pay for all you have done."

Without warning, two ice spiked exploded from the ground, impaling both. One was left alive, the meek one. As he hung defenseless on the pike from his shoulder, Ayleth lightly laughed, like a child on a playground, "Oops, I didn't kill that one. I suppose I can have fun before finishing you off..."

Felicity had to look away then. She curled up, hugging herself as echoes of the man's agony from torture screamed in her ears.

~~~

Felicity stood, frigid with terror. She was frozen in place, eyes wide. She did not see the library. She did not see the books. She did not see the people, or the fighting, or her friend. She only saw the ice. Ice. Terrible, magical ice. Spikes rising from the ground, javelins flying high, and a round disk of pure, cold, frightening magical ice. Her heart pounded, sweat bursting from her skin. Her fingers twitched, she felt phantoms pains. She heard echoing screams. She saw ghosts of terror. She staggered back, knocking over some books as fell to the floor and let out an ear splitting scream.

"No! Stop! Ayleth! I won't-please stop! Don't hurt- no! Please!"

She curled up in the fetal position, bawling as her screams echoed across the entire library.

[Sugarp1e1]

"What?!"

Crystal watched in disbelief as her icicles landed with pathetic clinks against the blue-hair's ice only to shatter across the ground. The icy mist that had hung around her dissipated in an instant.

"What the fuck just happened?!"
"This isn't good..."
"Should've left well enough alone."
"Are you kidding? That was awesome!"
"That mortal is no runt."

"No kidding, Forrest." Crystal responded. "That's why I came after him first but..."

"Unforgiveable," the blue-hair said. "You would attack a person completely unprovoked?!"

Almost in an instant, the blue-hair had twelve spears aimed at Crystal.

No mortal had ever truly frightened Crystal in...she didn't even remember when, but it was almost refreshing to feel a barrage of hail shoot out of her being again. The hail was far too small, dull and slow-moving to damage anything, but it seemed to add to the red-hair's sudden anguish somehow from what Crystal saw in the corner of her eyes, still fixed on the blue-hair.

"'Unprovoked?' He's kidding, right? Nobody told him and his protégés to ever approach me!"

Crystal stood her ground as her anger froze the ground underneath her yet again while her disgust formed sleet overtop. She clenched her hands into fists and, much like a match, quickly struck her fingers against her palms and thumbs, encasing and elongating her claws with ice.

"Watch the books!"

Crystal didn't know who said that but she was in agreement.

"I'd prefer we don't fight here. These other mortals have nothing to do with us and I don't have any gold to pay for these books."

Almost as if he read her mind, the blue-hair sighed and spoke again.

"You want this? I'll be waiting outside."

An ice disk appeared from under the blue-hair and he glided to the exit.

Crystal could only stand there, completely stunned that this mortal had formally challenged her. The ice around her began to melt, her ice claws falling off.

"He didn't attack me?"

Before long, the icy mist returned. A smile creeped across Crystal's face, still dripping with her own blood. Her fanged teeth had finally shown themselves.

"This will be very interesting..."

Disappearing into a swirl of snowy wind, Crystal followed the mortal outside. He had been waiting for her, as he promised. How noble of him. Very confidant indeed.

Still one with the wind, Crystal blew her amorphous form through the mortal's hair and brought herself to the other side of the courtyard across from him. She swirled around in that spot for a bit before materializing again, her wings emerging last with a burst of shimmering icy scales.

Having nothing else to clean her hands with, Crystal began to lick the blood off her fingers. It didn't have the distinctive metallic taste the blood of most races had; in fact, iron reacts rather violently to a faerie's blood. Instead, the taste of salt filled Crystal's mouth.

"I won't lie to you, mortal." Crystal called from across the yard. "You scared me a bit. You actually made me hail."

Crystal sucked on her index finger to clean the last traces of blood before moving on to the next finger.

"I'd like to ask you a question, if I may. Do you believe in equivalent exchange? That in order to gain something, something else must be lost? Most apply that to magic, but I tend to see that in the lives we lead."

She had finished cleaning her middle finger and began to lick her ring finger.

"After all, you had chosen to come to this library today, haven't you? You had chosen to approach me, and now you have chosen to challenge me. You wish to gain something, surely you must. But what, exactly, were you willing to lose to get it? Whatever it is, rest assured, the debt will be paid."

[Celandine]

She did the first best thing she could think of and ran over to Felicity. Quickly, getting down onto her knees Celandine brushed back a stroke of the flaming red hair away from the face of the girl and tried to think of how best to be kind. Gently, she whispered to her, calmly in a comforting voice.

"Fel-Felicity?" She asked, "It's - you're okay."

Behind her and around her the two ice mages strode from the library. At least that was good. Destruction to books was never good and knowledge was ultimate in Celandine's mind. Her mother wanted her to be a warrior, a priestess. But at heart the faun-girl was really a scholar. She loved to research, the passion born from the very fact that she could learn so fast. So therefore all these books were her concern and they had needed defending. Thus, she had cried out.

She remembered a time when her life had been combat training and she had had the protection of a tera'k - a huge bovine beast that was the traditional mount of fauns which she shared at least half her genetics with. He had died, sacrificing himself when she had been beset by a medusa gorgon - a terryfing creature who had turned him to stone. Celandine herself had also been petrificated, but with better timing. Her mother had managed to find a magician in just the right time and reversed the gorgon's foul play.

Ever since then Celandine had become far more interested in knowledge as a power rather than the blade. Or rather, the books were her weapons.

And the knitting needles she kept on her person at all times. She tenderly fingered on currently coiled into her hair, nervous in case she would need to use it to defend herself.

Turning her attention to Felicity again she gently touched the flesh of her face. The girl after all seemed to be going through some bad memory. A trauma or two. Born from the ice?

Maybe.

[Rehtul Orlouge]

The creature before him was still bleeding, oozing a black liquid that scarcely resembled the blood of mortal animals. That settled it, this thing was far from human. Though, Rehtul supposed, neither was one such as himself who bled blue. With a sigh he turned his full attention to the creature as she attempted to engage him in pre-combat conversation.

She talked of equivalent exchange, a common philosophy in magic, especially in the alchemical sciences. Rehtul raised a single brow in question as she attempted to equate it with life outside of the magical. Then, she said something absolutely outlandish after she essentially accused him of outright coming to face her on purpose the entire time.

"I assure you, the debt will be paid."

The mage couldn't help but chuckle as he fanned the bladed spears back out behind himself, pommels meeting just a foot away from the center of his back. The more he thought about it, the funnier it was, actually. He started laughing, gripping the shaft of the spear he held with both hands as he doubled over from the exertion on his body.

"Oh, thank you. Honestly I needed a good laugh," he said as he waved the spears to either side of his body.

"Equivalent exhange, you say? Now that is interesting. The very idea that something can be taken at a cost as long as the cost is sufficient is absolutely ludicrous. There are hundreds, thousands of people who've taken everything from others without giving a single whit back, and there are those who've given everything of themselves, possessions, time, passion, only to end up in the gutter. We take what we can get, take care of who we can..."

Three of the spears arrayed themselves in front of Rehtul with points facing the diminutive being before him.

"It's not fair, but it's the way life is sometimes. We just make due with what we can and ease each other's suffering along the way. After all, it's all we mere mortals can do."

With those words, Rehtul shot the three spears toward the woman. Once they were within about three feet of where she was standing, he snapped his fingers and had them all shatter into a spray of jagged, sharpened shrapnel.

"FELICITY! GET AHOLD OF YOURSELF! I WANT YOU OUT HERE, WATCHING THIS! YOU NEED TO SEE THE POWER I EXPECT YOU TO COMMAND WHEN WE'RE THROUGH HERE!"