Re: Svarik and the company II

[VisAnastasis]

Elven prince appeared somewhat bewildered, not knowing this side of her, naturally, as they had only met for but one day., already many months ago by this point.
" You know... If you permit me, by lady... Your offers of help sound more like half threats than anything else, you know? What happens if I refuse? Will greatest Singer of our time put me in time out? " he smiled back a little nervously, as if trying to keep light tone even if something seemed off to him about the situation. " Um, are you really Mirach that I have met? Because, um, permit me, you was quite nice to me, but now you rather sound like someone way too, um, eager to go into abyss of the unknown and all just for the hell of it. At least I can see why Svarik would feel bad for not going... " he teased a little haltingly. " With you, it more seems like.. for goodness sake... you bring this silly listener with you? Preposterous idea! Hold my beer, I'm going to kick him down in trial by combat, to prove he's unworthy companion... " he chuckled nervously. " But.. it's not a competition, you know...at least, not for me... "

[Mirach]

MIrach smiled at that, although a bit sadly. "You are right, I do sound quite eager, don't I? The truth is, I am. It is a chance to me. When I said that time has been whispering to me, I was not joking. He talked with me. He said that if I help you, he can make the thousand years pass in a moment. I could wake from my sleep... He seemed to think that my help might actually help you without leaving the land in uncertainty. And if I stay there for centuries, well... nothing new to me. I have a lot to gain and very little to lose."

[VisAnastasis]

That seemed to change everything for Liron, and he grew thoughtful all of a sudden,where before, he didn't really consider it seriously.
" Why.. Why didn't you say so from the start? You... So, you mean... " he asked quietly, hesitantly, a little haltingly. " If... If I accept you to go with me... That... Time will release you from your predicament? If I accept... you'll be... free? "

[Mirach]

"Yes, I will be free to go with you," Mirach nodded. "And Izven will be free after I return, so in case it would take me a long time, I do not miss anything. It wasn't the Time's idea, though. It seemed like the land begged him for it."

[VisAnastasis]

" R..really? " Elven prince shook his head slowly, seeming at a loss for words for a moment. " I... Don't understand how that works. I don't understand, how and why... would the land wish for that. Why... would it do something like that for me...? For you, too... That's... a very specific request... "

[Mirach]

"I would say it would wish for it so someone else could stay..." Mirach shrugged, as if it would be obvious.

[VisAnastasis]

Elf understood at last, and realization seem to hit him somehow, with strange mix of feelings - maybe a bit of hope, but in same time, some kind of sickly melancholy.
" He was... so intent on going... He wanted to be there for me... " he whispered quietly, watching before himself, faced with a hard choice. " Do.. Do you think... that if you go in his stead... he'd agree to stay? With his friends and family here? "

[Mirach]

"I have never met him in person," Mirach said. "I can't tell you what he would do or not. What do you think he would do?"

[VisAnastasis]

" With my luck? I'd say he's going to feel like he's letting me down, brimmed with guilt, no matter if he's staying or leaving. I'd rather have him stay... He'll feel guilty, but at least he'll be alive. " he bit his lip, revealing his thought. " I'd rather not bring anyone,to be honest. I hate to risk lives of others... Yet, it's such heavy burden, to travel alone in face of such thing, and such temptation, to have someone to cheer you up. I honestly at start, mostly hoped I could just get him to keep me company, for a little while, until we got to the actual dangerous parts, before sending him of back to safety. But he was so intent on going and repaying his debt to me, and things just kind of...escalated. It was hard not to go along with it. I asked him many times if he's sure, and so many times, he said yes. " he seemed somewhat miserable. " He.... has a way, with words... they are few... but they're honest. "

[Mirach]

"And how do you feel about him going wih you - not compated to going alone, but compared to me going?" Mirach asked.

[VisAnastasis]

Liron thought about it for a moment, before he admitted.
" I don't think he'll help me whole lot... That's not why I accepted his offer... His presence is just a comfort, not help. When I think about him coming, I think about having someone... I can hug one last time. If I died... He promised to bury me. I know it changed nothing, but there's some comfort to it, somehow. " he whispered. " With you, I feel I could maybe have higher chances... But also, that I'd put you in more danger. " he admitted. " What I want to do... may be of same nature, of what you did, when you used so much of yourself, that you fell into thousand years of slumber. Svarik is predictable. He'll run if I plead him to. He can't do more harm than good even if he wanted to. Bringing someone more powerful also means more risk. " he gulped. " That... confidence of yours... Forgive me... It seems like something that can bring us into whole another level of trouble. At least I am realistic about my chances... And you speak about trip to the inner world like it's.. a picnic. It's not true you have little to lose and lot to gain. " he bit his lip. " You have everything to lose. "

[Mirach]

"I actually thought confidence might convince you more effectively," Mirach said. "To tell the truth, I have no idea if I am the mightiest Singer of our time. But it's quite safe to say that, since I'm asleep and nobody can challenge me... But you *do* have  better chance with a Singer than with a Listener, although a Listener might help you too, in a way. The difference is in the name, you see. It's an active use of the skill compared to passive one. But you are right I don't really know what I'm sining up for. I just know that the land would prefer me to go instead of Svarik. So tell me what is it that you have to do..."

[VisAnastasis]

" My mission... was supposed to be confidential... But you won't be properly scared of it unless you know, will you? And if I refuse your help, you can hardly... lead it to fall in wrong hands... in your sleep... Well...Okay. " elven prince weighted out the options, before, hesitantly - he then took a deep breath, and added, quietly, but firmly. " You see... There is an innermost convergence point of the universe. The innermost world, where all our worlds collide in one.  A little pocket universe that holds us all together. A place that holds all rejects and abnormalities of the worlds. A place where the laws or matter and soul are both existing at the same time. All kind of strange things live there, at the place where laws work more like ones in dreams than in reality...  As you can assume, it's a mess, and it's extremely dangerous. And that's not even my main quest - just surviving there. " he whispered. " There is someone. Someone who I must find... a rebel leader from a different time. Long ago, he and my father fought. My father is one of most powerful wizards in the world through his blood... But Selden...he did not hold such great power by birth, but he was, I was told, devilishly skilled. No one had such intricate knowledge of magic. He and my father faught in battle that left terrifying marks on my world.... At the point where Veil between worlds was thin. Their battle made it even thinner, and they slipped into it... My father won by pure chance and luck... but instead of killing him...He just left him there. He put the darkest spell he's ever knew, drawing from dept of his hate... And he's bound him to that world, so deeply he made him a part of it. He is still, somewhere out there. Imprisoned, and full of wrath and rage. " Liron did not blink, he just stared before himself thoughtfully, as he added. " That is the person, that I have to find..."

[Mirach]

"Go on, it sounds interesting so far..." Mirach told him.

[VisAnastasis]

" There is another person. A prophet... an old man, of hair pale like snow and skin dark like charcoal. He..and I have some history. Enough that I don't trust him a person.. but enough to trust in his predictions. " elven prince whispered. " He sees.. so much it's close to everything. He sees most clearly than any prophet ever... and he's told me... that if nothing changes, there's a fixed point in time. That at one point, my world will end up in a world war, and then destroyed by it. He looked into as distant future as he could once - and all possible future lines led to it. All he could see led there... So, he had given his life purpose, to make a future line that evades that boiling point. To breed a savior, for this world. " Liron looked down,as he added. " So far... he's not doing that great. He's just one man. But he did manage to create one future line, where the world lasts the longer than in any before, and there's highest chance.... it is... My future line. That is, the future line, in which I take this mission upon myself, and do exactly as he says..."

[Mirach]

"I don't like prophecies and future lines," Mirach said wryly. "So what does he say you have to do?"

[VisAnastasis]

" I have to find Selden Delenmer. I have to track him down in the Inner World, and survive long enough through many ordeals and troubles to reach him, for a start. I'll have many strange encounters, but no matter how hopeful, none of them will be with  him, at a start. I won't recognize when I'm close to him, either, I only know I must go deeper into the realm. Prophet said Selden'll be using illusions, to deter me from his path. He won't know who I am, but he'll feel my presence through the land that is one with him, and he'll deem me an intruder. In mist and shade, he won't know who I am, and I won't know where he is. I'll have to find a way to reach through his illusions and traps of his land. I'll have to look for a forest - little forest with dark leaves and emerald fruit. He said I'll know it when I see it. Then, I must find a tree among that forest, that seems to bleed - using it as guidemark, I'll find him. I must not speak with him, so he wouldn't recognize my accent or voice. To him, I must be voiceless, and yet - I must convince him somehow that I came to help. That's... main reason I brought arrows and bow with me, ones you sow on me as we met. They.... are not mine. They belonged to Selden. Prophet gave them to me. He said that I must hold onto them, because at one point in my journey, they'll be vital, but he did not say which and why... And figuring out where's not even the hard part..." he whispered. " The hard part, is.. that when all that is done, when I find him, and when he lets me come close to him... I must release him from the bounds of that world. For some reason, Selden seems to be central figure of many future lines that are more hopeful. If he is freed and returns to my world, it buys it more time and chance to be saved. He's not quite savior of the world, but he'll bring us the farthest that Propher's seeing so far.  Spell placed upon him is blood bound. Only one with same blood as the caster can remove it... My father would never do it, so I have to. But it's extremely tricky curse... I was told... that if I do it with all that is in me, and try as hard as I can... That I have high chance of freeing him. But, I was also told, that higher the chances for his freedom, the lower the chances... for me. That.. " he smiled frailly. " Is my mission, lady Mirach. Just about enough vague and enough clear... that I can't stay away of it with clear conscience... "

[Mirach]

"You must convince him that you came to help, but can't speak to him?" Mirach asked. "That sounds like somebody should indeed go with you. Somebody who might be able to navigate the illusions and traps... I really don't know if I will be able to do that there, but I can find my way in several layers of this world, so maybe it will count for something. And however strange that world is, there has to be Music, right? Nothing can live without Music..."

[VisAnastasis]

" I guess there has to be... I don't really know, you see... As I was never there, either. I only know as much as I managed to scrape by from my father, from forbidden books, and this little bit Prophet told me. " elven prince whispered, appearing rather downhearted and at a loss. " I wished I could tell you more... Impression I got from what I do know is that basically, literally anything can happen down there... My father needed twenty years to find his way back... Although, that was so, because he had to find the thin veil to exit world from. I will enter it through stable entrance point, so returning is just the matter of following the same path back... " his throat was dry. " Although, to be honest... I haven't really thought much, about making returning plan. It just seemed natural to me that, if I do things right, once Selden is freed, he'll be resourceful enough to find his way back... If my father could do it, he should be able to, too... "

[Mirach]

"So you were counting with it being a one-way trip?" Mirach asked. "I see why Svarik wanted to go with you..."

[VisAnastasis]

Elven princes nodded quietly.
" I am sorry if it's not what you imagined..." He whispered hesitantly. " But that's about what it is... As much as I was told, anyway... I am sure there's lot more Prophet choose not to say... But that's about all I know. If it's for reassurance, I did plan to bring written supplies and make records every day of journey through inner world... I... Assumed he'd search my corpse, and find it, you see... I imagined... With it, it would take him faster to get out... And I counted... He was described being so honorable and just." He gulped." I hoped he would be so kind to bring Svarik back to this world when... He is freed..."

[Mirach]

"But if you take a companion with you, he can speak with this Selden and tell him everything he should know, right?" Mirach asked.

[VisAnastasis]

"I was told I shouldn't ask for any help, so I didn't ask any help in my world... But... I guess..." He said, very slowly, with some hesitant, dawning hope." I guess... It could be a loophole to it... If help is offered... If I wasn't one asking for it, and if it wasn't for my sake... It's not *really* for my sake, it's offered by Time and Land only so Svarik wouldn't follow along. Maybe it doesn't count. Maybe..."

[Mirach]

"If it says that you shouldn't ask for help, it doesn't say that you shouldn't accept help. That's a difference," Mirach said. 

[VisAnastasis]

" But you're not just some.. unknown in the equation. You're a person. A person that has already suffered through enough. " he shook his head sharply, before glancing back at her seriously, with concern. " You don't have to do this. It's harsh to say... But even if it might be cruel to say, still, even if you sleep for thousand years, after it, you'll be free to live, and have right to choose how to live... Whether, if you go with me, you're free right away, but there's a solid chance that you may die. What do *you* want to do? Why would you wish to choose more dangerous instead of safer path? "