"Well, seeing as how I refuse to believe in anything besides myself, I would go about attempting to better the world. I would actively deny that I have any sort of divine power and, and once I set up a stable area, I would begin teaching others. The truth must be told even though it is the hardest thing for anybody to hear."
As you speak a small smile slowly begins to find its way to Terian's face, it surprises you since you've yet to see the old man make anything other then a neutral expression since you first saw his face. When you finish the old wizard leans forward and rests his elbows on the table as he looks you up and down, chuckling he replies,
"There may come a day that you'll regret those words, and perhaps, if through some trick of fate or luck, you might regret that course of action for many have said the similar things and many have died due to those words. I see some potential in you Nameless Soldier, a spark just waiting to be fueled, but I also know you're not ready, come to me when you know the truth of what you are and how you are then perhaps I will teach you our ways. For now I will simply tell you this, for those with iron minds and unwavering concentration magic is the ultimate tool but to those with weak wills and wavering thoughts it is death, it is all consuming and in a twisted sense all powerful beyond even the domain of the gods, true and false.
If you truly seek to follow the path I have then come prepared, for it is a dark and lonely road where you will be hunted, condemned, and despised by even those who you might once have thought of as friends. It is a never ending struggle, but of course you're used to struggle aren't you Nameless Soldier?"
With a grin on his face Terian pushes himself up from the chair and disappears further into the library leaving you to find your way back out, and down to the second floor where you come face to face with yet another surprise. You find Markus standing at the bottom of the steps as if awaiting your arrival, as you draw level with him he finally speaks out.
"Follow me, I'll show you where you're to sleep."
And without another words he heads off down the stairs to the first level, with no option other than to follow him you make your way down the stairs after him looking forward to seeing your new home. He leads you out around the stairs on the first floor, and a little to the back where a small alcove comes into view with a small ball of pale yellow light shining down into the darkness below. With a grin Markus points down the steps and into the depths below,
"Not quite sure why Terian gave you the entire basement area, but you should feel honored, such a dark, damp, and cold home deserves one such as you after all. Terian told me to tell you, dinner is served as the sun begins to pass the east wall, its done long over by now, and the rest of your meals you can pass by the kitchen on the second floor to get. Anyway that's all he said to tell you so feel free to make yourself at home down in the dark, of course he said that he'd prepared a bit of a gift for you down there so take that as you wish."
With that said Markus turns and takes his leave, going over to join the group of men loitering about the makeshift barriers, and you find yourself alone, a quick glimpse outside shows that night is truly beginning to fall now. Exhausted you head down the stairs, surprisingly enough the yellow light jumps from its place on the wall to your shoulder as you descend, to examine your new home which turns out to be a lot more than you'd expected. The basement is quite massive with one main room, and three adjoining chambers all lit by the pale yellow lights that you assume Terian summoned to light the place, of course all but the back-most room are empty of any and all furnishings.
The back room houses a comfortable looking four posted bed though the curtains have long since been torn down to be used somewhere else you think it should serve its purpose well enough. Seeing the bed you suddenly feel yourself slipping ... falling ... the darkness fills your vision as you collapse onto the bed and then all is silent ..
In your sleep dreams comes to you; visions, illusions, or maybe even memories you're not sure, but they are certainly vivid and they consume your attention with all their might. What you dream of is ...
A Life of War; an all consuming endless stream of war where someone; maybe its you, maybe its another, or perhaps its a phantom, cuts and slashes their way through an endless tide of bodies. Some where red jackets, others peasant clothes, many black symbols and sigils, and even some hulking monsters of men in gleaming armor ...A Life of Knowledge; visions of books, scrolls, and tomes float through your mind, their endless neatly written lines of text as vivid and real as if you saw them with your own eyes. Within them you find secrets, you see histories of dozens of empires, kingdoms, and nations as they rise and fall, and you see a tale of where men rose up against the gods ...Or a Life of Survival; you see a life of crushing poverty where a man skulks through back alleys and across rooftops, every day is a struggle to survive and the man has no choice but to steal. Gods and other men shun the man, and he repays them with a dagger in the back and a heist in the dead of night both as revenge and a way to survive ...
Author
Topic: Undying - A Narrative Suggestion Game (Read 3761 times)