The Sound of Madness

[Silence Sei]

((Closed to Hysteria))

Sometimes, being one of Althanas' foremost authorities on telepathy was a curse.

Sei Orlouge was the only member of his generation to possess the gift of telepathy. This came in handy, as the mystic was a mute since both. Telepathy and sign language were his best two ways of communicating with the outside world. However, the mute had never attained quite the mastery over the abilities that his mother had. Armonia Orlouge was without a doubt the most single powerful telepath/telekinetic that anyone on Althanas knew of. In a blink of an eye, she could literally crush your mind.

Sei never asked for such power. He simply wanted to be able to express himself to others. He had the ability of telepathy since birth, and he had been decent at controlling it. This was partly due to the fact that the mute never had too much on his plate at one time. He was able to subdue the voices of others and keep himself in balance because of his lack of activity. The only things he needed to know were that his family was safe, and that Radasanth was okay.

Lately, Sei had a lot more on his mind, and certain things stepped out of the limelight.

It started happening after the Cell. The warrior Talen Shadowalker had temporarily clouded Sei after the suns rays recharged the mystic warrior. This made Sei weaker, and, considering he was already straining his mind's prowess, began to wane in his abilities. Perhaps that wasn't the right word.

Sei started hearing what everybody thought.

Between trying to find his fabled prophecy warriors, maintaining the army he was amassing (known to the public as the Ixian Knights), and taking care of his recently outgoing family members, Sei was spreading himself too thin. The mute could no longer walk through the streets of Radasanth without hearing what others were thinking. It was getting harder to determine which thoughts were his, and which belonged to the bazaar merchant down the street. It was driving Sei mad, hearing the residual echoes of others.

So Sei decided he would determine why his abilities were starting to slip from his control. In order to do that, he would have to find the person who started this whole mess. He would have to find Talen Shadowalker and see why his dark cloud could scramble the mystic's telepathy so...

[Hysteria]

The days had past like empty shadows since the Cell. At night he was haunted by dreams of a white lance strike his chest and during the days he plied his trade in the busy market streets. It was a living dream, a twilight of life lived because dying seemed like so much work. The endless cascade of death and hardship had doused the spark from Talen's eyes, leaving him a shallow husk of repeated actions. Something had been taken from him during the Cell. It could have been his confidence and indeed that was very bruised, but in actuality it was something else; something core to his being.

Unbeknownst to the shadow puppeteer, his wandering across the land had been guided by some unseen hand. The city that he had arrived in two days before was the same city that the butterfly-winged man who had end his life in the Cell dwell. Why he had come to the city was as much a mystery as why Sei, as he was named, was having problems himself.

The sun was starting its climb into the sky as Talen left the cheap room he had rented since reaching the city. The tall, pale youth had eaten a small meal and managed to push most of his short black hair into something that resembled a neat hair style. The cloths he wore were an old, faded black cloak with matching pants and shirt. If someone were to use the words 'washed out' it would fit him pretty well.

The market was starting to fill with people, people who had disposable incomes that they wouldn't mind throwing to someone who gave them a good show. After a few minutes Talen had found a suitable place to set up. For the youth, this included removing his swords from his belt and sitting down in a corner of the market with the blades pushed under his legs out of the way of small wandering hands. Within another two minutes small shadowy figures danced in front of Talen. The little black shadow figurines twisted and twirled on the stones. Moving around themselves and shifting and changing as they did.

Sorry for the late reply. I have some idea where to make this go, but we shall see :)

[Silence Sei]

Sei closed his eyes and let out an inaudible sigh. He had checked nearly every tavern, scoured almost every inn, and carefully watched every person that entered the citadel. It almost appeared that Talen Shadowalker had just disappeared from Corone soon after the Cell. What did he have to stick around for? He was easily dispatched by Sei in the first round of the tournament, using the last of his abilities to form a cloud over the mute rather than do anything crowd pleasing. He was one of the more forgettable warriors of the tournament, known for being the guy who foolishly jumped at Sei Orlouge.

If Talen really had disappeared from Sei's country, it would be a lot harder to find him. Althanas was a big place, and someone Sei knew little of could be anywhere. Sure, Sei could send messages to Alerar informing them if they saw Talen to send a messenger immediately, but Sei was starting to forget the features of his temporary foe as well. Perhaps it was because he was in a slump over his waning control over his telepathy, but Sei was starting to give up hope of ever finding the man.

"Papa, look over here!" Anita shouted with excitement, giggling. Sei began to turn his head, hearing his daughter toss money onto the ground to someone. Anita was very kind hearted, but the amount of GP she threw down was not for just some homeless person. Sei's eyes met contact with the hundred GP her daughter had thrown to the ground. Obviously she was being entertained by something, as Anita seemed to value street performers a lot more than homeless people.'

As Sei continued to look at his money wasting away for his teenager’s entertainment, something odd happened. A small shadow being went over to the coins and examined it thoroughly before trailing back off to meet with a similar looking figure. Sei's eyebrows rose at this strange form of entertainment, his azure orbs lifting up to find the shadows master. Surely this man was a spell caster of great magnitude to just be flaunting around shadow magic like a common street vendor.

That was when Sei's mind hit recollection boulevard. The master of the shadow beings was none other than Talen Shadowalker himself. The mute's eyes widened as he took in the form of the man. Had Sei really caused this man to go into such a slump that he was begging for change with parlor tricks? The thought of this seemed to hurt Sei at the core of his foundation. He had not meant to ruin the man's battle reputation by defeating him during the Cell, he was only trying to survive the bloodthirsty sport.

Walking over to Anita, Sei threw another hundred GP down. "I don't suppose I could offer you a meal?" Sei asked. He had forgotten all about the voices in his head, despite how many there were right now in this part of Radasanth. Sei's main concern was helping the man that had tried to kill him days before. Now whether or not Talen would accept said help was completely up to him.

[Hysteria]

The day had been relatively uneventful until a small girl took notice of Talen’s show. The girl, seemingly enamoured by the display, dropped one hundred gold pieces. The young shadow puppeteer’s mouth dropped open in surprise. The girl had dropped an amount that was nearly half of all the money had had managed to save up over his years of travelling around. The boy quickly over came his surprise and it turned into gratitude. It is common practice for street performers to thank people with a flurry of their art in some way.

Talen concentrated on the two small twirling figures. The pair came together and joined hands. They dances around each other growing bigger and bigger and twirling faster and faster. The pair ceased to be two an formed one spinning mass of darkness that suddenly stopped and revealed a new shape. The darkness had taken on the form of a small child, slightly under half a metre tall, he looked about three. The boy lifted a hand into the air and bowed to the girl with a broad grin. Another person approached Talen through the crowd and dropped another hundred gold pieces.

Radasanth is my kind o'place. thought Talen looking over the pile of gold.

Talen turned his eyes to the man, but his face froze half-way to forming a grin. An icy hand ran across the youth's chest as he came face to face with the orange haired subject of his nightmares. The dark cloaked shadow puppeteer lent forward and started picking up the large amount of coins slowly. He was silent, caught in a cage of fear. He didn't even hear the words Sei said.

The boy placed his hands on the ground and pushed himself to a standing position. Quietly and purposefully he picked up his swords and slid them into his belt. He turned to Sei, smiled and then piss bolted.

The youth's feet pounded against the stones of the street as he pushed and shoved his was through the crowd. Talen was too big to weave in and out of people, so he ended up bumping into them. The shadow puppeteer was operating in panic mode now, no time for niceties, he just wanted to get as far away from the man that had killed him as possible. Talen stepped around a large woman and then ploughed into a man with a red shit, knocking the poor man into a stall. Talen stumbled on, quickly pushing himself back to running speed. He turned the corner and ran straight into a fruit cart. With a spray of oranges he fell to the ground stunned.

Slowly Talen got back to his feet with his hand on his head trying to stop the world spinning. Still holding his head he stumbled onwards.

I realised after writing it that 'piss bolt' might not be a common phrase. It pretty much means run away really fast because you are scared. Anyway, Talen will listen once you catch him ;)

(Fruit cart and red shirt was intentional :p)

[Silence Sei]

Apparently, Sei struck fear into more than just the criminal underground. After making visual contact with the form of the telepath, Talen quickly shot away from the father and daughter. Anita looked to Sei with a confused look painted across her teenage face. There would be time to explain later, but for now, Sei just wanted to stop Talen.

Leaping into the air without his daughter, Sei sprouted his butterfly wings. He quickly flew his way to the top of the building they were beside, and began to run across the rooftops. This made it so much easier for the telepath to follow than to run straight through the busy streets of Radasanth. Sei grinned as he watched Talen hit several things. Sei was easily catching up to the swift puppet master now.

As Talen Began to rise up, Sei dived from the rooftop. His wings glided him straight to the back of his target. He slammed into the man with a forceful tackle, sending both of them rolling. The chaos between them resembled the chaos Sei had to deal with in his head currently. The second they had come to a halt, Sei found himself mounted on top of Talen. The mute knew at this point that he had captured his prey, looking down at him with stern eyes.

"Oh! That's a cute dress!"

"I wonder if I should end it all right here..."

"Never going to get a customer like this if..."

"Why is she always on my case? I just wanna...."

Sei gripped his head, trying to deal with all the voices that were pounding into his skull. The mute didn't know if he had the power to keep Talen down, but he did know that this lunacy had to stop. Sei moved his head forward to where Talen was, his eyes still closed from trying to drown out the voices.

"What did you do to me?!"

[Hysteria]

Talen had barely enough time to stand up than did Sei come crashing down into him. The youth ended up caught under the orange haired saviour of Radasanth. Fear, confusion and pain held the boy down harder than Sei ever could and he looked up with a face twisted in terror at the man who had slew him.

Sei did something then, which snapped the Talen our of his terror caused paralysis. Sei yelled, eyes closed, an accusation of wrong doing by Talen. The emotion, rather than the words, acted to dispel the nightmare visage that the youth had created in Sei's place. The cold, calculating Sei that Talen had witnessed in the Cell was gone, this one was emotional, this one was normal.

“You're the one that did this to me!” Shouted Talen back into the face of Sei.

The hard ground bit into the youth's back as he pushed Sei and wriggled free. Talen's heart pounded and his breath was quick and shallow. He sat helplessly on the road and lifted his blue eyes to Sei's.

“What happened?” Talen said breathlessly, “What... happened... to us?”

The feeling of loss, the missing piece of himself started to make sense now. The youth felt different being so close to Sei. The emptiness seemed to retreat slightly, like he had part of himself back again. What had happened was a mystery to the youth, but he knew that something needed to be set right. The thought came to him like a whisper from beyond, just below the level of hearing.

[Silence Sei]

Sei could feel it too. He realized that while he was focused on Talen, the voices overcame his form. However the closer he got to the puppeteer, he found that he was more in control of the stray thoughts of others. It seemed that the two now had some sort of connection between them. Sei was breathing just as heavily as his temporary foe by the time Anita came up, covered in fruit peels thanks to Talen's earlier accident.

Anita was breathing just as heavy as the men, and when Sei made eye contact with his fruit salad of a daughter, he couldn't help but smile in a very amused way. The telepath stood up, looking at Talen and offering the man his hand, his hard breaths slowly starting to ease down. Talen took the hand of the mute and the two were lifted up, the smile still upon the telepath's face.

"Let me start off by saying I'm sorry," Sei said, "About the chasing you down, the tackle, and the Cell. I usually don't act in such manners, and I never do such bloodthirsty tournaments as the Cell. Taking your life may have been self-defense, but it weighed heavy on my consciousness, every life I take does, whether or not it's repairable." Sei always had a feeling he would eventually lose himself to a bloodlust haze. It was actually fears of this that kept Sei from indulging such savage parts of himself.

The scent of lemons crossed Sei's nose as him and Talen both looked to Anita. Several pieces of lemons were smashed upon the girl's leg, and an orange peel was sliding down her right arm. She looked so ridiculous, dressed out in edible treats. "Who would have thought the prophecy would wind up making my daughter a healthy snack?"

The mention of the prophecy caused Anita's eyes to widen. She quickly slammed her brown backpack on the ground, reaching into it for several seconds. She eventually pulled out a notepad and began to flip the pages until she stopped at a particular section. Sei recognized the particular notes she was reading aloud from. It was the prophecy of the Nine.

"The Sixth will offer slight inexperience, but makes up fro it with fierce tenacity. He is a man of practicing a harmless evil, and will find himself troubled after a peculiar encounter. His skills are unique to the Nine, and though seemingly harmless, there is more to him than meets the eye. His ability with the shadows will be required if the Nine are to save Corone."

When Anita finished, Sei's eyes widened. He looked to a rather confused Talen with a smile. "It seems we have to have a friendly discussion. Shall we go back to your place, or mine?"

[Hysteria]

Talen was surprised by the apology, and more surprised by how much better it made him feel. For the street youth, receiving an apology was as uncommon as you can get. Adding to his growing contentment Sei’s daughter appeared covered in fruit and Talen smiled despite himself.

Prophecy? Talen wondered what Sei and his daughter were talking about as the pair seemed to shoot off on their own conversation. Sei seemed to remember Talen and suggested the three of them find somewhere more secluded to talk things through. For a second Talen thought that Sei was coming on to him, but quickly realised what the Protector of Radasanth meant.

“My place is a cheap Inn at the moment. We should go somewhere else.” Said Talen.

The three cohorts made their way through the busy market streets with relative ease. The crowds parted slightly for the distinctive Sei Orlouge and Talen followed him doggedly. Sei, Anita and Talen ended up at a small food store just outside of the central market area.

The store was small, but filled with the sweet smell of baked breads. It had a number of large wooden tables with small seats. As soon as they entered the store Talen had quickly ordered food. The shadow puppeteer figured that if Sei was rich enough to drop two hundred gold he could also afford to treat him to some food. The first of the food was brought out soon after, mostly a collection of sweet breads.

“So what’s all this about? What prophecy?” Talen asked as he took a seat and picked up one of the small square breads.

[Silence Sei]

Sei had ordered a glass of cold milk and Anita would have a Salvarian Splash. The latter was a fruit drink developed in Salvar that mixed many of the country's berries together in a smooth blend of flavor with a pinch of kick. When the waiter returned with their drinks, Anita grabbed the tall glass of pinkish orange liquid and began to spin the small black straw around in it. It took the girl several minutes before she mixed the strange beverage thoroughly enough to drink it.

Sei simply drank his milk as if it were a hard liquor of some sort. He looked at Talen as he tried hard to think about how to tell him about the prophecy. "Well, I have a tablet in my Tomb, and according to Anita, you're destined to save Corone with me." The girl nodded confirmation on the statement, her lips never parting from her ebony drinking utensil. Sei eyed his daughter up and down when the waiter returned to get the food orders of the remaining two members of the table.

"I'll take the shish-kabob Scara Brae shrimp, if it's fresh." The waiter nodded to the mute as if the voice in his head was a natural occurrence. When the waiter turned to Anita, the girl finally removed her mouth from drinking the nearly downed punch. "I'll have whatever goes best with my dinner roll," Anita said as she reached for a roll and brought it to her taste buds instantly.

"Oh, and Papa, remember to wash your hands when you're done eating those shrimp. You know Kyla's allergic to shellfish." Sei rolled his eyes before he looked back to Talen. The shadow puppeteer seemed in utter disbelief that Sei could be so casual about world saving while having a casual lunch with the man. Sei took another heavy drink of his milk, wiping the subsequent milk mustache off of his face.

"I know it's a lot to take in, but you fit the prophecy pretty well. I could use a man with your bravery and talents in the Knights. Even if you do wield shadow magic, that will be good because my team will be more diverse. So what do you say, Mr. Shadowalker? We can investigate what's wrong with us back at the Tomb, and you won't have to stay at a rickety inn."

The bill would never come for the trio. So many people recognized the face of their hero as he ate his lunch, that they donated portions of their own money to feed him and his guests. After all, Anita was Sei's daughter and Talen was his guest, so he had to be important if he was doing something as intimate as having lunch with the Avatar of Alerar.

[Hysteria]

Talen felt like he had fallen down the rabbit hole. Sei’s attitude, calmness and knowledge seemed to the Shadow Puppeteer to be completely removed from his own, so much so that the two might be incompatible. The casual way he talked of prophecy and saving the city were far above Talen’s normal concerns of finding somewhere to eat and sleep.

“That… well it sounds crazy.” Talen took another bite and thought about it, “But then crazy would be an understatement for my life lately.”

The youth felt a slight tingle run down his back as he made his way through more bread. Talen closed his eyes and concentrated on the strange feeling and a tiny voice became audible, but only to him.

“Finally! You know how long I have been trying to talk to you?” Talen recognised the voice of a shadow spirit that had helped him once before.

“How come I can barely hear you?” Talen asked in a similar silent language.

“Its that man’s light magic. It’s making it hard to communicate. You need to purge it from your system. I can feel some of your magic in him too. He should purge it as well, otherwise you’ll both suffer.

“And this man, is he telling the truth?”

“How should I know? I spend my time watching over you.”

Talen opened his eyes and sighed. He still didn’t know if he could trust the shadow spirit that seemed to watch over him. Like many things in his life, Talen didn’t fully understand it. Aware of Sei’s eyes on him he forced a smile.

“Sorry, just thinking. Alright then, let’s head back to your Tomb. I have to say, sounds like a cheery place.” Talen joked weakly standing up.

[Silence Sei]

Sei's eyes darted towards Anita while Talen was in thought. She nodded to confirm the presence of another, but did nothing more to indicate that she knew of the puppeteers friend. Anita always held a talent for sensing demonic creatures, particularly the undead, but recently she had been getting better at detecting invisible people in general. Sei could only feel the significant shift in the light-to-shadow ratio at the table while Talen 'daydreamed'.

Once the youth agreed to go to the tomb, Sei smiled. The mute nodded an indication that Talen was right about the place being 'cheery'. "Yes, you will find that mostly everyone at the Tomb is friendly, even if they have to warm up to you at first. They have their quirks, but I like to think of us as one big family.."

"Except for Outcast Aislinn..." Anita mumbled under her breath. This comment caught a menacing glare from her father, who simply stood from the table. Talen did the same, and the trio left for the Tomb, enjoying the small walk through Radasanth Park where the cave was based.

As they approached, Sei noticed a figure standing at the mouth of the Tomb. His hair was green, and he was built like the Telepath in length and girth. Sei noticed the rather large shield upon his back. The brown defense item had the crest of a brilliant blue sun painted in the dead center of it. The sun was supposed to represent the fact that life would always come to Salvar, despite its problems and harsh conditions. Looking at this crest, Sei knew who was there waiting for him.

"Breaker... he's a legend..." Anita said in a soft voice. Apparently, the girl's voice carried further than she thought, because the figure turned around. Two green eyes were peering out from behind a small black mask. He brought his pale white hand to his head to flip his shoulder length hair. A slight smirk formed upon the heroes face as he grabbed each side of his cloth white shirt and pulled them like they were suspenders. Just being in his presence let Sei know how the man easily earned the name 'The Super from Salvar'.

"Sei Orlouge, your evil doing and conversing with evil-doers is over!" Breaker said as he pointed towards Talen. "If you are too blind to see this man's dark ways, then I must purge him from existence for you!" With that, the 'superhero' took off, withdrawing a pair of nunchaku from his leathery black pants and swinging them with great skill towards the puppeteer.

[Hysteria]

Talen still felt like he was walking on clouds as he made his way through the park surrounding Sei’s tomb. The shadow puppeteer’s feet were quickly planted on the ground with the appearance of the mysterious Breaker. Even the name summoned the image of broken bones and when the green-haired man with the superhero complex pulled out two nunchaku Talen shivered.

“You only become a Legend after you die.” Talen replied to Anita, “I’ve learned a few tricks since our fight Sei.”

A dead clam settled over Talen as he walked towards the charging man and drew both his swords. He took a more formal stance with the katana in his right hand held in front of the wakizashi in his left. Talen’s eyes narrowed as he watched his opponent charge forwards.

“That was a bit harsh. Shadows are a necessary opposite to light, that’s all.” Talen shouted toward the man.

Talen wasn’t lying to Breaker, but there were some more volatile energies which lay in shadows. The Shadow Puppeteer had only recently become aware of them, but he was already on his way to master them. Talen opened his mouth and concentrated. Breaker was nearly upon him, but not just yet. Using his mouth as a focal point for the energy he gathered there was a sudden surge of dark energy through Talen’s body. It caught at the space just inside his mouth and then ruptured outwards. The result was a large spray of dark liquid directly in front of Talen. The grass and dirt were coated black just as Breaker reached Talen.

The superhero’s foot touch the liquid and Breaker found a sudden loss of traction. The liquid’s main property was how slippery it was. Talen pointed his katana forwards ready to pierce Breaker as the man struggled to regain his balance. A smile broke across the youth’s face, but it was premature. Breaker’s slammed down his leg and lifted himself into the air. Twisting as he did so Talen found two nunchaku aimed at his head as the man passed directly above him.

There was a crack of metal on metal. Talen had brought up his smaller sword and caught the attacks. The force pushed the youth backwards and now he was the one struggling to regain his footing. Breaker had landed behind Talen and dropped his shoulder into the Shadow Puppeteer sending him stumbling forwards. Talen twisted and slashed with his katana to keep Breaker at arms length.

Talen found himself between Breaker and the slippery mess he had made. He was breathing hard as he lifted his swords. Above the Shadow Fighter a mass off darkness formed. The shape twisted and took form, turning into black rose bud. The head sized shadow flower started to bloom, with two dark petals opening and more starting to follow. Talen smiled and darted to the right and slashed downwards with his katana at Breaker’s chest.

[Silence Sei]

Breaker placed one of his nunchaku back by his side as Talen rushed at him. Grabbing the large shield from his back, the superhero brought it forward, completely negating the puppeteer's slash. "You've got to do better than that, evil doer!" Breaker announced as he shoved Talen off of his defense. As Talen stumbled back form the power behind the blow, Breaker capitalized by throwing his shield as a projectile towards Talen.

The boy sucked, the damascus weapon barely combing over his head. As Talen stood up, Sei's eyes noticed the shield hitting one side of his cave, bouncing to the complete opposite side, flying back towards a tree beside Talen, and then flying straight off towards the youth. Sei went into action, jumping towards the side of Talen and taking the brunt of the weapon.

He had enough distance between himself and the boy to be knocked to the ground, but not to interfere with the fight. Breaker's eyes quickly shifted towards Sei, shock, horror, and what appeared to be concern were painted across the fellow hero's face. He quickly broke away from the aside, however, and turned back towards Talen. Breaker growled as he withdrew one tonfa, still holding a nunchaku in his right hand. The livol tonfa came down to the elbow of the blue haired man, and its sheer presence was enough to intimidate Sei and Anita.

"You'll pay for that!" Breaker shouted at Talen, as if the massive blow to Sei's stomach was the shadow man's fault. Breaker darted off in another charge, this time throwing the nunchaku as a distraction to hopefully take Talen's legs out from under him with the tonfa. Anita stood and watched the attack, hoping the prophesized warrior could avoid it. She was in total disbelief that the hero was blaming Talen for the hurt he had caused her father. Anita growled as she eyed the so-called 'super hero'.

"You better hope he's okay..." She mumbled as she began to close her eyes.

[Hysteria]

Talen stood back up cautiously. His dark eyes darted to the side as Sei launched himself in front of the shield and took the hit. Talen’s eyes darted back to the growling Breaker. Inside the youth’s chest he could feel the anger rising as he looked at the man who denied the good of everything Talen held true for himself. The youth might as well have been fighting against his own doubts.

With a crack Talen’s Wakizashi smashed into the thrown nunchaku sending the bludgeoning weapon to the ground. As quickly Talen reversed the grip on his Katana and pushed the blade into the ground and braced it from behind with his foot. Breaker’s Tonfa hit the blade with such force Talen felt his hand jar.

“Piece of shit!” Shouted Talen at the crouched Breaker.

A cloud of darkness twisted into existence just in front of Talen’s free leg. Breaker pulled the tonfa to block what he assumed was an attack, but the youth used the darkness as a distraction to hide his movements. He kicked through the incorporeal darkness and collected the superhero in the side. Breaker rolled with the kick to minimise the impact and landed on all fours and quickly stood up.

“Who says you get to decide if I am evil?! Just because I can cast black spells?!” Talen yelled at Breaker, “If your good, why wear a mask?!”

The youth let go of the katana and left it stuck in the ground, his hand was cramping up against the force of Breaker’s attacks and he quickly flexed his fingers to ease the pain. Using the slight gap in the fight Talen focused on producing another black rose. The darkness gathered above the youth quickly and another rose was formed and started to bloom. Talen was breathing heavily as he tried to sustain the intense mixture of spells and fighting. Just to his left over Sei his other rose continued to bloom.

[Silence Sei]

"I wear a mask to protect my secret identity, son!" Breaker announced, "If any were to find out who I really was, they could jeopardize my family! How dare your black soul try to turn the situation around on me!" Breaker made a charge again, his speed picking up double time as he shot at Talen with a newfound rage. He quickly began to bring the tonfa into the chest of the man and connected....

....With thin air just inches before the youth's form. The echo of shattering glass vibrated through the forest. At the sound of this, Breaker looked over to the fallen Sei, the mute weakly holding a hand upwards towards Talen. The mute had casted Mystic Protection, a spell Talen had become familiar with during the Cell. When Breaker realized this, he closed his eyes quickly, and awaited for the glass now breaking all around Talen's body to overtake everyone in the area.

Yet once the glass fired, every single shard went straight to Breaker's stomach. Rather than impaling the superhero, however, it seemed as though the broken glass got absorbed into his form. Breaker quickly shot his eyes open and gripped his stomach with haste, keeling over as if he were in intense pain. The blue haired man quickly looked to Anita with a face of genuine concern, and stood up, running away from the group as quickly as possible.

It was a few seconds later that the trio heard a loud scream coming from Breaker from many feet off into the distance. Anita had quickly rushed to her father's side, wrapping one of the mystic's arms around her neck and starting to lift him up. Sei could only let out a weak grin as a few trickles of blue blood escaped from the side of his mouth. "Mr. Shadowalker, if you will please join me in what we've dubbed the 'prophecy room' now, I'd like for you to look over this tablet of ours..." Sei coughed a bit, only a bestial grunt making its way onto the mute's lips.

Anita helped Sei into the cave, the mute still having his spare arm wrapped around his own stomach. Sei had been hurt pretty badly, but Aislinn could take care of it later. Ever since the Orlouge twins came into the cave, it seemed that Sei had become more prone to injury than ever before. This thought made the mute chuckle as the father and daughter slowly made their way to the prophecy room, two doors down from the 'main' room of the Ixian Knights.

Once Talen entered the cavern, he would be able to hear Sei coughing once more in sporadic bursts.

[Hysteria]

There was a second where Talen thought he was done for. The tonfa stopped just from the youth’s chest and with an explosion of glass the fight was over just as quickly as it had started. Talen was saved again by Sei, who was at least living up to his nickname as the Saviour. The Shadow Puppeteer however had done little to be called anything but ‘not-dead’. The youth slowly put away his swords and looked up at the blooming black flowers floating in the air. His pale face twitched with annoyance and he waved his hand towards the flowers. The blossoming forms puffed out of existence as Talen turned and followed Sei.

“You lost again I see.” Said an invisible voice inside Talen’s head.

The youth cursed the invisible spirit for rubbing it in.

I don’t need you to make me feel worse, if you want to help me, why don’t you snoop around the cave and find out if I can trust Sei? Talen retorted.

“Don’t be silly, I can’t do that. Besides I wouldn’t want to make things easy for you would I?"

Wait, why can’t you? Why won’t you tell me about who you are, why all the secrecy?

“Because you aren’t ready to know of course.”

Talen didn’t respond, he wasn’t in the mood for games at the moment. The cave entrance loomed in front of him and the youth slowed as he walked in. The cave brought up weird feelings for Talen. He recognised that it was strange that he found the idea of living in a cave odd, but the grown-up street urchin felt a little too close to nature for his liking. As he made his way through the cave he could hear Sei coughing, a tolling bell of Talen’s failure that reminded the youth that if he was going to be a part of a prophecy to save the city he would need to become more powerful, or risk playing a minor role.

Talen stood patiently, albeit nervously, shifting from foot to foot as he waited for Sei to explain everything. There were a lot of questions and ideas buzzing around the young warrior’s mind, the main one a warning that he should beware orange haired saviours baring gifts.

[Silence Sei]

Once Talen made it into the main room of Sei Orlouge, he would find himself surrounded by both tunnels and bookshelves. Various tomes were scattered all about the room, a majority of them were no longer where they belonged. The smell of freshly cooked tomato basil soup wafted through the air, the latest creation by a chef known as TSN. Sei would be found on an orange chair, a fist brought up to his mouth to cough a few more droplets of blood onto his hand.

The mute stood once he had seen that his new guest had arrived. Turning, Sei motioned his hand towards the teenager to follow him into what had been dubbed the 'Prophecy Room'. It was marked by a black door with a livol finish, and nearly anybody who entered the room became overwhelmed with the feeling that there was something greater at work. Anita followed behind the two warriors, shuddering from the goose bumps that rose every time she took a step into the room.

Overshadowing the three of them was a large stone tablet. The tablet had weird, unknown markings chiseled into its rock surface. Sei walked over to the massive monument and placed his hand upon it, looking towards Talen as if he expected him to do the same. "I know it seems odd, but Anita seems to be the only one who can read the text engraved on this thing. Surely you felt what she did when you came in here? Even touching this thing seems to give one a moment or two of clarity. I've been so busy focusing on the pain in my intestines, I didn't hear the voices for a bit. Now that we're in here, with all my soldiers strewn about, they've returned. Yet somehow, this stone puts my mind at ease...."

"Perhaps this is what you need to fix yourself?"

[Hysteria]

As Talen walked into the room it was like diving into a deep pool of freezing water. The pressure of pure destiny was pressing down on him and his knees felt a little weak as he followed Sei into the room. The smell of soup twisted around Talen, but the normally food driven youth didn't smell a thing as he lifted his hand with bated breath towards the stone tablet that Sei so casually placed his hand upon.

Talen's hand reached his hand slowly towards the stone and touched it gently. Suddenly the full force of stones prophecy struck Talen. Images flashed across the youth's eyes of the city of Radasanth and darkness rising around it. The black mass was not the shadows the youth was used too, it was evil, a darkness that was hollow and consuming. For the shadow puppeteer, he might as well have been a rabbit staring down a tiger. The images flicked quickly, thousands of images of death and destruction for the citizens of the Radasanth past across Talen's eyes. Quickly the youth was overwhelmed when, with a flash, the images fixed on a group of people walking behind Sei towards the darkness. Talen saw himself there, walking unflinching behind the saviour towards the battle.

Talen opened his eyes and found his hand pressing so hard onto the stone tablet that it ached. He only became dimly aware that Sei had been speaking with the last question. Talen knew that this was more than going to fix him, this was destiny.

“Oh, I think so.”

[Silence Sei]

As Talen touched the stone, Sei felt a surge of energy hit him. The voices began to quiet down as Sei held on tight to the large tablet. It was as if he could feel his own powers starting to come back to him through the power of the prophecy. Sei held on as long as he could, being hit with so much of his own light magic was quite the overwhelming experience. Finally, when the mute thought he could take no more of the magical onslaught, he released his grip of the tablet, stepping back a bit.

Sei looked to Talen and then to Anita, his face whiter than it normally was. He could no longer hear the voices that plagued his head at all. It seemed as though Talen and Sei just needed a conduit from which to transfer the magics back to their rightful owners. However, there was something more to it than that. The mute could feel that his telepathy had actually grown stronger in the time it was away from him. It was like Talen's borrowing of the light magic had actually improved it.

The mute looked to Anita, the girl nodding in the doorway. She could feel it too, the charge Sei's telepathic powers had built up while they had been away from their master. Sei's presence seemed to intimidate the usually steel-nerved girl now. She took a step back from her slightly more powerful father before she regained her composure and shook her head.

Sei looked to Talen with a raised eyebrow, sensing a new kind of energy from the youth as well. The teen felt a lot stronger from that boy Sei had encountered in the Cell just days ago...

[Hysteria]

As the last flashes of prophecy dwindled from Talen's mind's eye, he turned and looked at Sei. The red haired saviour seemed taller than before, more imposing, more... bright. The youth realised that he himself felt different as well. The power that had been suppressed by the light magic started to flow through the youth. The light magic had acted as a dam within himself, letting through only some of the the youth's powers and trapping the rest. Now that the dam was removed, Talen was flooding with power that was not used to and could not contain.

The energy suddenly became too much and Talen doubled over in a coughing fit. From his mouth sprayed condensed shadow magic in a black liquid, a small amount at first, but more quickly following. The found himself on all fours on the floor, coughing and spluttering as the black liquid flowed from his eyes, ears, mouth and noes into a growing pool beneath him. The youth lifted his head up towards Sei, his face etched with fear. He turned away as he was racked with another coughing fit and a final spray of dark liquid into the puddle. The youths hands were pressed into the pool as the black liquid started to move under Talen. Shapes twisted and swirled in the oil like substance and lifted out of the darkness. Gaping mouths and slithering bodies twisted their way out of pool and climbed up Talen's arms.

Talen's swords in his belt slid up out of their sheaths as if pulled out by an invisible hand and dropped into the black pool. More shadow snakes twisted their way out of the pool and wrapped around the twin blades. The blades could only barely be seen amid the writhing black bodies. Dark pool started to shrink as the liquid poured itself into the metal of the swords. The snakes twisted around the blades, slowly shrinking as they two entered the blade.

As if nothing had happened the darkness was completely absorbed by the two blades. The twin swords lay on the ground and shimmered slightly with a dark light. Changes started to appear across the swords as Talen's dark eyes watched them nervously. Across the metal of the blade hundreds of little scale marks appeared, ending in a snakes head at the tip of the blade. The hilt on both swords glowed a dirty gold tinged with green and the same scale marks appeared across their surface. Talen sat back on his knees and ran a hand across his face. The black liquid was completely gone and he looked like nothing had happened. Talen turned his head towards Sei.

“Ok.... time to start explaining. Where did this prophecy come from? What do I have to do with it? What's the deal with my swords? I get that we just had the magical equivalent of an enema, but this all seems a bit too much.” Talen paused, his head seemed so much clearer than it had just an hour ago, he was even able to express himself with increased clarity, “and why the hell did that Breaker guy attack me? Is he part of this prophecy too?”

[Silence Sei]

Sei watched the rather horrific display before him, taking a step in order to aid Talen. However, as quickly as the youth had gotten sick, so did he recover. His blades seemed much more different than how they were before, coated with what appeared to be scales of some sort. Sei didn't quite understand the way the boy's shadow magic worked, but now he was quite curious to find out.

Talen quickly unloaded a great amount of questions upon the mute. This was more so the mystic's area of expertise, smiling as he began to answer each question one by one.

"The prophecy has been here longer than us. As far as I know, you are a part of the prophecy, and so am I, as well as seven other warriors. I have found a few myself. We're all supposed to be united for when Corone is attacked in order to actually save it. I don't know what happened with your swords, but from what I can deduce, your shadow energies came back in such an abundance that your body had to release some of it somewhere, lest you find yourself completely unable to handle it. In other words, I think your knives became imbued with some of your own shadow magic, but I could be wrong."

Sei took a breath as if he had actually been talking to Talen. In all reality, Sei had moved his lips to go along with the words, and would probably be able to say the words correctly had he not been born mute. As such, he really had run out of breath during his little speech to the boy. Sei inhaled once more as he began to answer the next set of questions.

"There is somebody trying to stop this prophecy from coming true. Every time I've encountered one of these prophecy warriors, we've been attacked by one of my former friends. From what Breaker was saying during that fight, it seems as though somebody has misinformed him about where we stand. He seems to think you are pure evil incarnate. I would be careful if I were you, Talen Shadowalker. Breaker is a powerful foe, and not one to be trifled with. Perhaps it is in your best interest to stay here, in Sei's Tomb with us. Most of my other Nine warriors have decided to stay here. You will also find we can provide you free room and board for however long you need, what do you say?"

Sei took in another breath, this time extending a hand towards Talen. A smile formed across the mute's face, almost certain to what the boy would say. Still, there was that nagging voice telling the telepath that he could be wrong. It was really all up to whether or not Sei's answers had been adequate enough to please the shadow puppeteer.

[Hysteria]

The story was crazy, but Talen had learnt that crazy was nothing in this world, it was only the impossible that you should sometimes doubt. The youth’s blue eyes flicked down at the slightly glowing blades on the ground in front of him and then back at Sei. Talen slowly reached towards the Saviour’s hand and clasp it. The youth stood up and smiled.

“Who am I to refuse the Saviour of Radasanth?”

Talen reached down and placed his hand on his Katana and the image of him walking behind Sei flashed to his mind again, this time he saw clearly the altered swords at his belt. Talen knew that the swords and his destiny were somehow entwined, but exactly how he was yet to learn.

“I need to go get my stuff, but I’ll be back.” Said Talen putting the blades back into their sheaths by his belt. With a slight incline of his head the youth walked out of the room of prophecy and made his way back to the cave entrance. The youth walked slowly, his eyes focused on the ground just in front of him, even as he left the cave into the sunlight he continued his solum pace.

Talen’s hadn’t lied to Sei exactly as he had left the cave. Rather he needed time to think before he got his things. Once he was a fair distance from the cave the youth walked over to a tree and say at its base. The sun’s ray’s bathed Talen as he sat on the grass and thought about what had happened. He indeed felt whole again, as he had before the Cell, but things were confusing, more so than ever. Slowly he pulled out the Katana from his belt and drew it from it’s sheath. Talen ran his fingers across the scales etched into the blade and bit his lip in thought.

It certainly is a realistic looking snake. As if the entire blade could twist around and bite me.

Slowly he lifted the blade so it caught the sunlight.

Why a snake? I don’t understand. Snake… snake…

The word rolled around his head as he tried to figure out what the reptile could mean. The shadow from the sword fell across his legs as he repeated the word over and over. Suddenly the thin line of a shadow from the blade darkened and solidified. In a blink of an eye it had formed a black snake, completely separate from the blade.

Talen froze in fear. The snake slithered across his legs and twisted around aimlessly. The youth’s scared eyes followed every movement.

Go away… go away… The snake suddenly shimmered and disappeared leaving the shaken Talen, once again, alone. It took a second, but the realisation of the his own interaction with the sword dawned on the shadow puppeteer. He had thought snake, and one had come, he had wanted it gone, and it had gone.

Talen got to his feel and held his katana loosely. He pointed the end in the ground and focused on the image of a snake as he dragged it through the grass, leaving a line in the dirt. As he pulled the sword out of the ground the line materialised into a long, thin snake. The reptile slithered around aimlessly in front of the Talen. The youth smiled and wished it gone, and the snake disappeared. The youth smiled and sheathed it sword.

It may take some time, this could be interesting…

The youth started to walk back towards the room he had rented. After brining his stuff to Sei’s cave, he would practice his new ability.


So, rewards:

Upgrade of the Katana and Wakizashi set to:

The Ophiuchus Blades (The Snake Barer Blades):
These twin blades consist of a Katana and Wakizashi of the strength of steel and were created when his own energy overflowed his body and entered the blades. Because of this the blades are linked to Talen as if they were a part of his own body, growing as his own power grows stronger. They are linked with the zodiac sign Ophiuchus, the Snake Holder and their powers focus around these reptiles.

Snakes:
The blade is able to turn lines into snakes. The line can be anything, even something without a physical form (such as a shadow). Once formed the black snake(s) will do whatever Talen wants.
Effect:
Talen can create an average size snake out of a line. The snake is of moderate strength and returns to whatever it was before once destroyed. They can cause average damage by biting, or constricting. At the moment Talen can summon two snakes for a few minutes.

[Revenant]

Full rubric, full commentary requested.

STORY

Continuity (6) – You showed a good solid background connection establishing the character’s ties to each other, which was good. The establishment of your characters’ reason for being in the thread was decent and left me with no questions. Where I feel that you could have done better was to lay out more information about the light/shadow aspect of Sei/Talen as this was the point that moved the entire plot along. I get that Talen’s shadow status comes from being a shadow magic guy (obvious) but the only reason I know anything about Sei being tied to light is that I’ve written a bunch of stuff with him.

Setting (5) – The chase scene (fruit stand), lunch scene, and prophecy room were the only parts of this setting that I really felt were explored at all, and even then I would have enjoyed more during the chase scene. The fight with Breaker took place in a virtual field of nothing, but at least there were a couple bits mentioned as Breaker’s shield went whizzing around. There was a lot more that could have been put into the description of Radasanth or Sei’s Tomb to bump this up.

Pacing (6) – Sei, I understand the intent of having your old characters come back to fight as NPC’s but the sudden appearance and “let’s fight” between Breaker and Talen seemed really abrupt, disrupting the story’s flow. I really felt that the rest of the thread up to that point and after that point flowed well, and the fight with Breaker itself flowed well, but together it felt like an oddity.

CHARACTER

Dialogue (5) – The dialogue with Breaker really knocks this score down to average. It was bland, cliché, and uninteresting. Before that point, the dialogue was engaging, and I particularly enjoyed Sei’s freak out on Talen about the voices in his head.

Action (7) – The chase scene and the fight with Breaker were very well executed. Sei standing around for most of the fight didn’t really feel in-character for the hero however.

Persona (5) – Hysteria, you carried this part. You did a very good job of showing who your character was and having him react accordingly. Sei, you get a big ding because, while you mention that being unable to block out people’s thoughts is a big deal to him and is driving him slightly mad, the only thing you did with it was show the thoughts affecting him once with no real effect. The only other two times you mentioned it was to shrug it off “Sei’s focusing on something else right now, so he’ll get back to the madness later.”

WRITING STYLE

Technique (5) – Pretty standard fair, good but nothing that really jumped out and grabbed my attention. There was a lot of passive wording in the thread though, which brought your score down.

Mechanics (7) – Few real blatant errors here. Good spelling and good grammar from both of you. Watch the proper use of homonyms like “your and you’re” though.

Clarity (7) – Pretty clear writing. The fight with Breaker had me slowing down to get a handle on what was going on but other than that a decent read.

WILD CARD

Wild Card (5)

TOTAL: 58

Everyone wins!

Silence Sei receives 2835 exp and 195 gp and achieves level 10.
Hysteria receives 1506 exp and 145 gp.

Spoils:
Hoo-boy!

Hysteria – Granted - The Ophiuchus Blades – Owing to the nature of how you got these, you lose your current blades to get them. As for the ability, I’m going to say that until you get better with them, you can only make snakes from lines that you actually touch with one of the blades and each blade can only make one snake for a few minutes (your requested two), meaning that if you’ve used the Wakizashi then you need to use the Katana. A small amount of gold was taken from your final score to cover this.

Sei – Both abilities approved with the following amendments (though as always, ROG can put the kibosh on it if they so deem):
Sound of Madness – Has only a minor chance of going ‘insane’ though a 60% chance of becoming nearly incapacitated by the distraction. Needs permission from an opponent to use on their character and strong willed opponents can overcome the effects by concentrating really, really hard.
Force Persuade – Cannot be used to make someone do something overtly harmful to themselves. (No ordering someone to think that stabbing themselves would be a good idea.) Characters get a chance to overcome the compulsion if it is to do something completely against their nature (such as a demon releasing its sacrifice).