Eight Faced Compass

[Torin Reahkari]

I took one long drag from my cigarette, feeling the smoke eat away at me inside. What was left for me now? I had aged..ten years, at least now..and I looked no different. Nothing had changed. I've been sitting here, in Alerar, popping out when opportunity arose, but all my shots at getting the fuck out of here were brushed aside by some higher power. Everything that had drove me to stay here in Alerar, gone.

Slowly, I breathed out the toxins, watching it dissipate into the cold autumn air. I noticed in my peripheral vision a burst of leaves blowing towards me. I hopped off the building ledge and landed softly on the ground below, rising slowly and walking further into the fog that had set itself in Noria.

I felt as though something was missing. Something..huge. A part of me that had left a long time ago. I shrugged my jacket a little higher up on my shoulders as a familiar cold wind swept through me. Ahead, a figure appeared.

"If you are a bandit...Tonight is not the night to be out robbing..." I sighed. The effort it took to speak was enormous.

"What happened?"

"To what?"

"You. You used to be my hero, Torin."

"...Who are you?"

"A kid. Who's seen you since the beginning. But it's eleven years later now, Torin. It's time to grow up. You've lived here in Noria for eleven years, and you haven't aged a day. I look older than you do and I was ten when I first saw you. Stop the charade." the person continued, a hooded cloak concealing his face.

"I...wish I could. It's been so long...I feel... so old." I croaked, my voice starting to waver.

"Just..find something new. You're beyond Noria now..maybe even beyond Alerar. I don't know."

"Maybe you're right. Thanks, kid." I sighed, turning around and walking slowly towards Etheria.

Maybe I'll sail away.

[Dissinger]

"I need to consider finding somewhere quiet, I'm tired of this shit..." Seth mumbled as he moved through the fields of Khu'fein to reach his goal. Etheria port the only safe passage in Alerar. As he reached the valley leading to the port he sighed as he closed his eyes still continuing to drudge on, he was here for only one reason, and then he was gone. As he moved through the area he sighed and continued on once again opening his eyes to focus on the road before him.

Pushing ahead he finally saw the port, the Snowbourne still there as dutifully as it always had been. He just continued forth without a care in the world, his gaze fixed on a small shack by the sea, for the ship was not his concern. His concern was more in what was supposed to be kept safe in the shack. Upon reaching the wooden building he sighed as he said softly, "here's hoping he up kept his part of the bargain."

Reaching forward with a gauntleted hand he pulled the door open roughly as it squeaked on rusted hinges, the sea air long since weathering away such things. As he looked inside he sighed as he looked outside for a lantern. Not finding one he grumbled, "Life is passing you by..."

The effects were immediate as the grey orb of energy formed in his hand offering its pale light to the room allowing him to see. Boards creaked under his feet as he moved slowly through the room searching for them, surely he would have kept them with the rest of his prized gear. Bone knives and shurikens, a few plynt blades, various instruments and tools were in the shed. He frowned as he said firmly, "Where the hell are they?"

He was getting frustrated now, the daggers were important, not something to be playfully tossed aside somewhere. As he looked around frantically he sighed as he said, "Knew I couldn't trust him. Why should I trust a pirate, that’s like a nobleman trusting a thief..."

He tiredly rubbed his eye with his free hand as he exited out slow still in hand as he did so. It was stupid what was going on here. He had a simple task and now he couldn't find hide nor hair fo the boy, or his daggers.

[Torin Reahkari]

Crunch crunch crunch.

The autumn air was brisk, the dead leaves of the Norian forest crunching below my feet. I had grown stale, and old. The more I thought about it the more I felt it.

"Enough is enough though." I sighed.
__________________

"Why are we even fighting?"

"I...we can't let Borna have this. And defeating Serilisk may stop Borna, at least for a while."

"Bullshit. It won't stop anything."

"Maybe.."
__________________

The Dark War. It seemed so long ago, and it really wasn't. I had only seen few of my comrades though. Taliel, Damon, Seth, Velius.. Everyone else was off saving Althanas. Just like we did..tried.

I miss those days.

But now, something was telling me to go to Etheria, so I quickened my pace, approaching the ever-stagnant Snowbourne. No more though. It was my time to leave Noria. At least for a while.

"Who's there?" I called. It was probably just another smuggler checking to see if anything of worth was in the sea rotted wood of Etheria Port. I brushed my hands against Seth's daggers, hanging from my belt. No, I couldn't.

Instead, I grabbed Tanzalis, flexing my gloved hands over the hilt. My back hit the side of a building lightly, and I held Tanzalis steadily in one hand.

"Show yourself." I called, slowly slinking up towards the Vault. Suddenly, something occured to me. Something that Althanas had not seen in a very long time. Something I could bring back, could reawaken.

I could use it to bring Reahkari back.

[Dissinger]

The voice cut through the dead air about the abandoned port. Once again Etheria was beginning to awaken, its sleep disturbed by two of the kind of people that had made its name infamous. Seth continued to hold the orb of slow as he carefully walked outside, the orb crackling in his hand as he began to contemplate using it. His voice called out, a bit of the old pride, that refused to be snuffed out, shouting through the area, "Careful what you wish for, might just get it."

His eyes scanned the area as he was on guard. Closing his eyes he waited for the attacker, more than certain that they were somewhere very close. Buildings and shadows made it hard to see much, so he stopped relying on his eyes and more on his other sense as he tried to fell out the area. Each cautious step in the sand emitted a rather bland crunch noise. However, he filtered it out as he waited for the other. Perhaps it was some guard meant to keep the port safe. A laughable action if his daggers were nowhere to be seen.

Still he clutched to the crackling orb of slow, his ace in the hole to make sure whoever came at him would not like the results. As he continued to walk towards the center of the compound his eyes remained closed, the steady crunching noise of his footsteps still echoing through the area. His mind was made up, and he had much to do, either the guard would know, or he didn't, and either case he would have to hunt the daggers down. It was important that those daggers be left alone, be left to rest, and the more he tried to calm about them the angrier he got. How hard was it to keep two steel daggers safe?

He was pretty sure he was about the find the answer to that very question, very soon...

[Vorin]

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