Topic: The Reality of It All

Zynn

Date: 2014-09-23 01:15 EST
After getting her book from Khoom, and making her hasty retreat back to her green house to tend to certain and various different things, she was making her way back to the inn. Hoodie was zipped up, and the hood up, Her wealth of black locks spilled out at the base of the hood. Boots were worn with shorts, and her movements were quick and hasty, mainly because she didn't care to draw the eyes of anyone tonight. For two reasons. She had Vicodin humming through her bloodstream, and dulling both her senses, and the pain, and she was still healing.


He stood on the very cusp of the awning as she approached, he'd sensed her coming of course. The sword strapped across his back thirsted for her, yearned and reached for her. He watched with sad eyes as she neared and before she'd come within a block... he jumped and landed in the center of the street. He hadn't drawn any weapons yet. Instead he held his hands out to each side placating. "Zynn. I am not here to fight." He figured it best to start with that, or she'd end up setting him on fire and electrocuting him. Again.


She thought nothing of someone landing in the middle of the street. People did that a lot in Rhy?din. Though, she did come to a stop when he spoke, and she realized who it was. "Then what are you here to do? Because every other time I've seen you, you've tried to kill me. In fact, you almost succeeded last time." Her fingers twitched, and her mind urged her to take advantage of the fact that he wasn't armed at the moment. Instead, she shoved her twitchy hands into her hoodie pockets, and narrowed her eyes on him.


He shrugged and sat cross legged on the cobblestones of the street. "Well, I wanted to talk to you. See... there's a problem someone pointed out to me, and I want to see if they're right." He settled and looked at her as he slowly took the strap of his sword off his shoulder and took the whole thing, along with the harness of his gun, weapon included. He tossed the weapons to the side of the street, out of his physical reach. "Would you please speak with me?"


She watched him, as he undid his weapons, and tossed them aside. Her eyes followed their path as they clattered on the cobbles and stopped moving. The look she gave him when her eyes fell on him again was wary and curious. She didn't move to sit though. The cobbles were dirty. If she wasn't such a curious creature, she would have kept walking. "Fine. But let's not take all night. I have people that are waiting on me, and other things that need done." She paused, and rubbed her hands against the inside of her pockets. "Because it must be something important enough for you to discuss with me if you're stupid enough to disarm yourself."


He shrugged. "Why are you going to kill them?" He asked bluntly. The bluntness was intended to throw her off guard, see if she knew what he was talking about or if she didn't, then if she knew what was coming. "All those people. Why?" He looked at her sadly, like he wished things were different. But they weren't, and there's nothing he can do about it. For once, he let the loneliness of what he was and the duty he was bound to show in his face and through his eyes. Never let anyone close, or it will hurt that much more if the sword reacts and he had to kill them. Never get attached. Stay alone. Stand strong. Strike swiftly. He'd heard it all and knew it by heart. Every prayer, every reason. But he never knew why the people he had to strike down did what they did. Surely the reasons were varied... did Zynn know what she was?


"What?" His question made her take a step back, mainly out of surprise. "I don't... I've no plans to kill anyone." Her arms moved, crossing up under her chest in a way that spoke more of comfort than defiance. "I just want to live my life as I am. A warlock that keeps busy making potions, working magic, protecting friends and family." In all honesty, his question had unsettled her, and it showed.


He looked at her closely, like he wasn't sure if she was telling the truth. "Even at such a cost? Knowing what I know, I wonder if you'd want the same thing." He said quietly. "Would you choose still to live your life as you are? Is it worth telling you? Or would it just make things worse?" He sighed and shook his head. That was the trouble with the sword. It was black and white. It either reacted or it didn't. It told him nothing but who to slay. It said nothing of why, or what the urgency was, or how soon.


"I don't know what you're going on about." She sounded small, like she wanted to run instead of try and understand what he was saying. It didn't help that there was a coil of dread sliding through her like oil, leaving unease in its wake. Her arms tightened around her just a bit, and she shifted on her feet.


He looked at her and then over at the sword. How long did he have to carry that burden? His entire life. Until the day he died, he would bear that sword, and then he would be buried with it. Like his fathers before him. He looked back to Zynn, at the fear and the small sound of her voice and the way she curled in on herself like she might break at any moment with her shifting. He looked at her and his eyes were so very sad. "Zynn, do you want to know why I am sworn to kill you?" He asked quietly. "I'll offer this one time. Only once. I?ve never offered this before to someone marked by the blade. But, I want to know if there's something I can do. I have to know." There were rules against this for a reason of course. The Sealgaire's never told the marked the reason why, it might enable them to complete the task if they did. They might speed or even set in motion what the marked was meant to do for the horsemen. He sighed. "Take it or leave it. Yes or no."


When he finally glanced up at her, and she saw the sadness in his eyes, she dropped her own, down to the cobbles, to his weapons, anywhere but him. She didn't want to see the he shared the same emotions as her. It'd mean that he was his own person, more than just the person that had been trying to kill her. His words though, she did listen to. She listened to them closely, and was silent for a long time, contemplating, and worrying her lower lip to the point of it looking swollen and sore. When her words finally came, they were soft. "Yeah. I'd like to know why you're trying to kill me."


((Many thanks to Sain E. Sealgaire's player!))

Zynn

Date: 2014-09-23 01:17 EST
He nodded to himself. "Then you must first understand that I am a product of generations of hunters. The Sealgaire's have long borne the title of Aetherian Knights. We have followed the swords for hundreds of years in my world. Where we did not, there are always consequences. In the last hundred years alone, this has happened many times. Gavrilo Princip, 1914, marked by the sword and spared. Assassinated an archduke, and began world war one, thereby initiating the deaths of approximately thirty seven million people. Men, women and children."

He kept going. "Adolf Hitler, 1939, marked by the sword and spared, rose to power and initiated Blitzkrieg, beginning world war 2 and causing the deaths of sixty million people. Men, women, children. Osama Bin Laden, 2001, rose to power within a terrorist faction and began the conflict in the middle east by sending two planes into skyscrapers, killing nearly three thousand people and beginning another war. There are more. A lot more."

He looked up at her.

"These are evil men. But you are not evil. The sword reacted to you just as it did to Richard Seery, a man who served Gavrillo Princip. Who gave him the idea to assassinate the duke. Who didn't even mean it. Who simply joked with his friend and started a war." He looked at Zynn sadly. "You are hounded by the Horsemen. Death, Pestilence, War, Famine. These things follow after you and wait for the moment to enter our world and wreak havoc. As an Aetherian Knight, it is my sworn duty to kill you before that moment comes. Before whatever action you are destined to take that unleashes death on scales this world has never seen." He sighed softly. "Now... why are you going to do it?"


The things, the people and events he was speaking of were all things of mundane history. Things that she hadn't had much concern about, except for the Twin towers. That had been terrifying. But that had nothing to do with what he was saying, and the fact that she was trying to process what he was saying. Every person he'd mentioned, their actions had led to war and ended in deaths of great numbers. They had all been... marked as he'd put it by the sword, and allowed to live. And she was marked by the sword as well. Slowly the wheels in her brain turned, things started clicking. What color had been in her face, was gone. "That's... That's not...I..." She floundered for words, trying to make her brain and mouth work together as one cohesive being. "I don't...I don't even know what I...would do. There's no reason for me to do anything like that." She swallowed, and seemed to fold in more on herself.


"Do those men strike you as men of reason? Could there possibly be reason to cause that kind of destruction? There is none. The sword see's through reason. It sees through choices and motives, emotions and thoughts. It simply knows if the horsemen follow you. If they do... it tells me. And I end you before you end the lives of thousands of others at best, at worst... millions." He looked back to the sword. "But I met someone today who could fool the sword. It gathered nothing from them. They hid from it. This scares me. It makes me wonder if it is infallible." He looked back to Zynn. "What do you think I should do? Gamble on the lives of thousands and let you live so you can go on living as you are? Making potions and working magic and protecting your friends and family? Is your choice still the same? Knowing what I know?"


It was almost like her legs had given up on trying to support her at some point. Her knees buckled, and she slumped to the ground, almost in a kneeling position. She was silent for several moments, eyes fixed on the cobbles. Then, slowly, they finally came to rest on him. "I don't know. I don't want to be the cause of something like that. I want to avoid that. I've only just started to realize what it's like to love life. And myself." She paused long enough to draw in a shaky breath. "If you had found me a year ago, I wouldn't have fought. I would have gladly died. I was miserable. I thought my world had ended. But that's not me now. I.." Her voice waivered, the backs of her eyes burned, signaling that tears weren't too far behind. "I don't wanna cause a war. I don't want to be the cause of others dying. And I'm terrified. Of dying. Of causing something like that. I..." Her words died in her throat, and her hands were wringing at her hoodie.


He stretched out a hand, the sword and the gun returning to him telekinetically. "I told you I'm not here to fight. But... I have to know Zynn. I have to know if the next time we meet, this sword still reacts to you. If it does... you must understand I have no choice. I am sorry... but if you cannot purge whatever brings the horsemen behind you, I will not spare you. I will not stop hunting you. I will not show you mercy. I will kill you, or die trying." He sighed and climbed to his feet. "Do you understand?" He asked softly.


She flinched at the sudden movement of his sword and gun, and didn't relax, even if he did say that he wasn't there to fight with her. "I don't even know what it is that I have to stop it from happening. I don't even know where to start." She went quiet when she felt salty warmth on her cheeks, before she finally nodded to his final question. "So long as you understand that I won't lay down and die. Even with everything you told me. I'd rather find a way around it. Bringing on what I'm supposedly going to bring on.." She drew in a deep breath, and let it out. "Not that you will. but do me a favor and don't come looking for me." What he'd told her tonight, obviously weighed heavily on her mind. It was noticeable in her voice and the way she held herself.


He considered it a moment. It was a big city, and if he didn't look for her then there was a possibility it could be months before he came even close to her again. That was a lot of time if she planned on running. On the other hand, if he was right and the sword was not infallible... then it could be the time she needed to prove it. Maybe... maybe he didn't have to be alone. Maybe this was the moment. Maybe he should kill her now... but it would solve nothing. "I won't come looking for you Zynn, but nor will I ignore your presence. Fair enough?" She'd just have to find a way to escape or surround herself with powerful friends. There was no other option.


As terrified as she was of everything he'd explained to her, she wouldn't run. Rhy'din had become her home. If she was going to run she would have done so a long time ago. "Fair enough." It was more than she could have hoped for. She hoped that it would give her enough time to figure out what it was she was supposed to cause, and find a way to stop it. "Thank you." The two words of gratitude came hesitantly, but they sounded genuine.


He looked at her for a long moment, the same sadness in his eyes as before. "Prove me wrong Zynn. Prove this sword wrong. And I will be thanking you." He said quietly. Then he turned, and started down the alley away from her original direction. There was much on his mind, and Sain was a simple hunter. The lives of so many were not for him to gamble with, and yet here he was. Gambling on her word.


Her eyes met his when he looked at her, and this time, when she saw the sadness in them she didn't glance away, until he turned to leave. She was silent for a long time. "I will." The words were said long after he was gone, lost in the whispers of the wind, and nightlife of Rhy'din. It was even longer before she picked herself up, and disappeared, heading towards where ever she had been originally going, head and heart, heavier than they had been in a long time.




((Many thanks to Sain E. Sealgaire's player!))