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Rise of Darkness (Alvis & Malicious Lullaby)

Yoristan paused a moment, trepidition in his gaze. She was eager. But that was a good thing. And he had to trust her as much as possible, or this whole thing was for nought.
"Yes. Yes it is." He informed her, passing the staff off to her. "This is an Abjurers Staff. At it's most basic, it lets you focus energies on defences more readily. Take some of the load off of you. And once you're a little more secure, I can show you some of the...higher functions of the staff. And to give you a boost..." He reached into his pocket, adn handed her the ring. It didn't look like much at all. A copper band with a bronze disc on it, a few arcane symbols carved into the metal.

"This ring is...rare. And powerful. It will open up your power reserves. By a lot. And that is in and of itself dangerous. So be careful. I don't want to come in to see you've overchanelled, and fired half your brain." He warned her, nodding to her. "But I think I'm going to have to get you as well equipped as I can before the trouble arrives."
 
The big smile on her face stayed there, even as he seemed hesitant to hand this staff over to her. She saw that hesitancy, that sense of worry she might do more damage with the staff than without but she knew better. She just…liked presents. Carefully, she took the staff as he handed it to her. It was a beautifully crafted rod and she gazed at it in a bit of awe. But what really sealed the deal was when he gave her a ring. It looked basic, simple but it was still beautiful on its own and she slid it onto her finger, well the finger it fit on which happened to be the middle finger on her right hand. Looking at him, she smiled even bigger now if that was even possible and she nodded her. “I’ll use them well Master Gall. Thank you.” She bowed a little bit.

She placed the staff down against a nearby wall and she moved over to him. “I know I might have asked but I guess I am still curious. Exactly how big of trouble are we to be expecting? I mean I understand you said it’s very possible we could both die and I am not having any regrets but I think I deserve to know exactly what more is at stake here, aside from us dying. What exactly is this threat that we are getting ready for, that you are training me so hard for?”
 
Yoristan sighed, and looked away.
"That's the problem Ewyn. I don't know. I know it's bad. I know that there's a vampire involved, and he's well informed enough to be aware that I'm not going to be easy to shift. And yet they're coming anyway. That means they're very powerful, or very stupid. And both of those can be extremely dangerous when it comes to mages." He explained. "So I've called in a lot of markers to get help. If this turns out to be a simple issue swept under teh rug, I'm out a lot of favours, and feel dumb. But if this is as bad as it could be...I'm still not sure it's enough."

He started to pace.
"I'm not sure those ghouls finding you in the woods is unrelated. When people start dabbling with the undead, ghouls are often used as advanced scouts. It's possible the Oneiromancer specifically sent them looking for you. He got a lot of information of you, he knows that you have potential. So as long as you're here, he'll likely think of you as a danger. Or at least one in the making. So that is why I'm trying to give you as many tools as I can to make you ready to fight. You might need it."
 
As he began to pace, she crossed her arms over her chest, keeping her head straight but her eyes followed his back and forth movements. She’d never seen him like this. Granted, Ewyn had only been there a week and some days but usually he was so calm and cool, like a man who knew his power so was so great, nothing could put a damper on it. But right now, he seemed like he had just aged ten years, the tiredness and exhaustion seemed to be more than ever and it was clear to her that this was really taking a damper not just on his magic and his power but him. Now she was concerned and his constant pacing wasn’t helping things at all.

Taking a step, she put her hand on his back to stop him, mostly to make him stop since it made her want to fidget uncomfortably. “Okay,” It wasn’t very simply said, it was one of those ‘okay’s’ where it was like a bigger understanding sunk in. It was uncomfortably said and made her throat dry a little bit, making her really wonder just what she agreed to but at least she’d be fighting for something rather than running away from something which was better to her than anything else. “Although I still don’t quite understand you when you say he got a lot of information from me. What kind of information do I know? I’m…I’m…a fledgling compared to you or the Oneiromancer. I know nothing!”
 
Yoristan looked at her, realizing that she didn't truly grasp what the Oneiromancer had taken from her. Oh Gods and little fishes. Could he tell her? Did he have the right to not tell her? A proper apprentice was supposed to be taught, and not sheltered. Which left him few options. Truth. Truth was always the best option he had found. Painful at times, but it worked out best in the end.
"You knew exactly where the tower was. Part of the layout. That there were a lot of enchantments on the place, ones that would help me defend it. And...judging from the marks on your neck, he drank from your blood in the dream. Ewyn, he knows everything there is to know about you. Every thought you've had, memories you've made, thing you believe you forgot but were simply waiting in your mind. He knows the very essence of what makes you who you are." He sighed, putting his face in a hand.

"You can't fight him either. He'll know exactly how you think, know what direction you'll jump in response to his attacks. He'd take you apart. And he's a vampire. Which will make him rather hard to actually hurt. All I can do for you rtight now is try to train you well enough to hold your own against the likely mob of lesser beasts they bring." He explained, his voice quiet.
 
Ewyn looked at him, waiting for the bomb to drop. Okay, it didn’t really drop until he started getting deeper into what exactly the Oneiromancer had found out. Not just access ways to the tower or its location but deeper things, more emotional things, the kind of things that could bring a person down, tear them down completely until they were a broken shell. Suddenly, she froze as her mind instant drifted to Faryn. That’s how the Oneiromancer was able to get into her dreams so easily in the first place, by knowing what attracted her and disguising himself just as that, as Faryn, the current object of her desires. And that’s what scared her the most. That’s what made her worry too much now all of a sudden. The best way to truly bring down a target was to hurt the people they loved most, cared for most, by attacking their heart. Eliminate them all until the intended target was broken completely, waiting for that final devastating blow and never rising from the ashes again. Okay, now she was officially panicking.

“The village. The people at the village. He’ll know about them too. The brownies, the boulder trolls, Faryn!” She finally said his name out loud to Master Gall. Ewyn looked scared, terrified really and like she just might actually start crying because she didn’t want to be the cause of other people’s pain just because she couldn’t…let go.
“How do I block it? How do I block them all from my mind? Unless he already knows? Is it too late? Will they—?” She couldn’t bring herself to finish that sentence as her hands covered her mouth.
 
Yoristan sighed. It wasn't a reaction that was unanticipated.
"He's not...in your mind right now. So anything that has happened since the attack, he won't know about. But anything that came before...is his. He'll know you were in the Academy, but he'd have to be completely insane to even attempt to go there. There's enough magic in that place to flatten half the country. The village is something that I'll look after. It's been my responsibility for years, and I'll not shirk that. I'll look to them as best I can, and let the headmaster know that trouble might be coming." He was sure that the headmaster would brush it off on some level, the mage having never let them down in the past. He frowned. "So...Faryn? I'm not sure I recognize that name." He asked calmly.
 
He did well to placate her of her worries as far as the village and its inhabitants went. That was good. Her hands slid down from her mouth and soon dropped at her sides, a small nod coming from her. “And I’ll help.” Despite all the fear and worry, she wasn’t going to abandon him. If anything, she’d probably really start taking her training more serious, not let the more taxing stuff weigh her down so easily, push through it and really learn how to utilize the staff and ring he gave her more properly. Like he said it would, that way it won’t be so taxing and easier to learn.
However, when he questioned about Faryn, her cheeks turned a little bit red and instantly, Ewyn averted her gaze, avoiding his own. “He’s…a nice boy I met at the village. He showed me the Brownies. He's something special Master Gall. More than just a worker at the Village Inn."
 
Yoristan suppressed the knee-jerk reaction of all boys at her age were likely to be 'special' if they were attractive and interested in her. But that was doing both her and the young man a disservice. They deserved better. He nodded.
"I thik I might know of him by reputation. The one the village calls in to deal with Fae troubles. I'll get word to the inn, and make sure he knows that thre might be trouble brewing. Now then. We need to get you focused on your work! That ring isn't doing much good decorating your hand." He swept a hand, bringing another chair up, facing hte other, and he waved that she should sit.

"Close your eyes. Now. Focus on your hand. You should be able to feel the ring. It should feel like a bright, powerful light is shining from it. Keep focused on it. You should be able to feel like there is a lid on it, like a box. Put your thoughts to opening that lid. And hang on." He explained to her, taking his time, wanting to pace her through things. He knew what a ring like that would feel like to her. The way she felt when she'd let the energy of the tower into her, only ten times as intense.
 
Ewyn meant it though, that Faryn was very special. Not in that way, where she was smitten because he was the first boy she’d ever been with, no. There was something about him and she saw it when she accompanied him to delivering that Boulder Troll back to his rightful family and place. Even the Elder Troll saw it and knew it as well. She didn’t know what, but Faryn wasn’t just some ordinary Inn worker.
She nodded her head, Faryn usually was the one they called upon for that stuff. She just hoped by telling this to Master Gall and basically making it less than obvious that he was the one she spent her time with while in the village, that wouldn’t get him in trouble. Surely there was some protocol against being intimate with those who stay at the Inn.

Moving to the chair, she sat down and her hands slid over the armrests of it and she sat back. She took in a deep breath before exhaling softly, then sitting up. She didn’t relax, no, she tapped into the power that the ring beheld, just as Master Gall told her to envision. It was a mass of energy that was wanting to burst right out of the container it was trapped inside of, the lid shaking, toppling off and she felt the full weight of that energy consume her. Her grip on the armrests tightened and she let out a shaky breath. Far more energy than she had ever touched into and it was overwhelming, massively so. She could feel it flowing all through her, wanting to be released but she wanted to harness it, not let it go, she wanted to control it, use it to her benefit. Assist her.

So she hang on and swallowed deeply, remembering to keep breathing and not let it control her. She was in charge here. She had the power to do it. Is this what Master Gall felt on a regular basis? Because if it was, it was so empowering in that really good way, but also so scary. To have that much power… she now understood from all those horror stories her father told her, how easy it was to let it corrupt a once pure and good mage. But she wouldn’t be that same one.
 
There was obviously a lot going on in Ewyn's head right now, and Yoristan could see it clear on her face. It was actually something that he liked about her. She wore her emotions rather plainly, very close to the surface. She was an earnest young woman. Time and life might change that someday, but he hoped not. She was clearly fighting the battle of will to control the new power than she had come into. And that was good, becasue it seemed she was winning. And that was a good start. He nodded to her, and reached for the staff, placing it in one of her hands.

"Now, the staff is easier. It's been used to channel defensive magics for longer than anyone I know has been alive. It knows the way. It'll help train your mind to make shields more effeciently. And in a pinch, fel free to hit someone with it. It's solid enough to take quiet a lot of punishment." He said the last with a smile.
 
She let go then the moment the staff was placed into her hands but more like she was given a sort of balance by holding it. It didn’t seem taxing to do both, the staff helped her to harness the ring’s power a little more easily. She was able to let out a soft breath and even smiled at his little bit of a joke, at her leisure of course, she knew that’s why he said it. She did make it quite clear she would like to end some evil force painfully slow so they understood the full weight of what they wrought unto the innocent, that being the very last thing they ever understood before they died. She wouldn’t go out of her way of course but that would be a delicious feat to thrust upon them. “I won’t take advantage of it Master Gall but it’s a comfort to know.” She said softly. “So the staff is more like an assist, make things easier and less taxing? Like right now? I can still feel the ring’s energy and power but not overwhelming so. More like in a way that I can better handle without much of a fight because of the staff.”
 
Yoristan smiled.
"That's the thing about a proper Mages staff Ewyn. Most of them are passed down over the years. In some cases master to student. And the staff...odd as it sounds...remembers. It remembers what it was used for, adn can help a person direct themselves down those same paths. There's even legnds of the truly ancient staffs that have actually achieved their own consciousness. Able to think, and speak on their own, and have a wealth of magical knowledge that they can share." He explained. "That staff in your hand has been used by Abjurers for probably two centuries. Shields are easy for it. And it's storing the energy that you're not able to comfortably contain. So that when things get bad, you can draw on that energy to bolster yourself. Keep the staff with you as much as you can. The longer you have it, the easier it will be to explore what else it remembers."
 
She was bewildered and even more fascinated. She only read about them. She read about probably everything but never actually experienced anything with what she ready about. This was new and it was exciting, making her even more curious about what exactly she could find out with this staff but also ever the more patient. Yes, she wanted to really get a step on what she was going to be learning but at the same time, she knew if she were to push herself too hard, she might bleed out through her nose and that was not exactly the kind of way she wanted to go. No, she fancied dying in a battle of some sort. Not because she couldn’t harness her power properly and use it without it being lethal against her as opposed to her opponent.
“I’ll keep it close with me.” Maybe she could sleep with it, feel something during her sleep instead of just waiting for consciousness. She wasn’t sure but she was excited to find out, tempted to want to do something now but knew she’d be really pushing herself too much after what she did with her shield.
 
"You're going to be keeping strange hours right now, that much I promise you Ewyn. But now that you're properly equipped, you should give yourself some time. Maybe a little rest. Let your Gift recover a little, adn come at the next few tasks when you're fresh." Yoristan suggested. "While you get a little rest, I'll get word to the village. Sound like a plan to you?"

Faryn looked at the room he called home, and suppressed a whistle. The brownies had clearly been by, and his room was nearly shining with the quality of the cleaning. Teh floors didn't look like new wood, they looked better than new. Polished, cleaned and perfect. he almost felt bad about walking on it, marring the job. One of the maids approached him.
"Hey, how're you..." She trailed off, looking in his room. "...holy shit Faryn! Did faeries clean the place?" SHe asked with a smirk.
"Close." He admit, and stepped in. She froze, adn stared at him.
"Really? Seriously? You had fae clean up for you?"
"Made a deal with them. This was their end of it."
"Damn. Should try and just get a contract for them to clean the inn!"
"And what job would you have then?" She paused.
"Right Forget I said anything then." She moved on and Faryn just chuckled.
 
“Thank you Master Gall.” It was like he knew. Well, he probably did considering she was a bit wiped. She pushed herself harder with her Gift than ever before in her entire life. Then again, back at the Academy, she wasn’t properly equipped in knowledge of how to actually apply herself. Now she was and it was exerting, exhausting. “I’ll see you…when I see you.” Was all she could think to say as she hugged her new staff to her and left the room and descended down the stairs, more like stood upon them as they descended for her. Once at her floor and in her room, Ewyn kept her staff nearby her bed after shutting her door. She undressed until she was down to her fully body slip dress and slid into the bed, sighing deeply at the comfort it brought her as she snuggled in, lying on her stomach and cuddling the pillow to her. Much needed rest, most definitely. She drifted almost instantly.
 
As Ewyn drifted off, the faintly carved runes on the staff began to glow. Her normally dreamless sleep shifted, this time not showing her normal room. But it resolved into a large open area, much like the mess hall at the Academy. And there were people in nearly every seat. Men and women, humans and...others. And all of them wore teh robes of a mage, and had a blue stole wrapped around them, denoting them as an Abjurer. As Ewyn was showing up in hte room, the conversations died off, adn the people turned to look at her. One after another, they all broke into a pleased, welcoming smile.
"Well! She's here!" A man announced jovially.
"Of course! She's asleep after all!" A woman followed suit.
"Welcome, welcome! Have a seat! We've ever so much to talk about!"

Yoristan fed power into the speaking crystal, bringing up the headsman of the village. He had been right, and the man was confident in Yoristan's ability to contain any threat that might come their way. Which was unfortunate really. If they'd been willing to evacuate the village, then there was a lot less chance that they'd get hurt in any potential crossfire. But what was done was done. he sent a message through his contact at teh merchant's post to get word to Faryn, keeping his word t Ewyn.
 
Ewyn had expected to have a dreamless sleep, being as tired as she was and how quickly she did drift. But to her surprise, it was like she wasn’t asleep at all, stepped off the plane of reality and into this dream world where people knew her. She was standing there, stunned as they all knew her yet she knew none of them and it left her gravely confused. She hesitated before slowly walking forward, her guard up and she unable to differentiate between reality and dream. This felt so real to her and it was a bit scary, like she wasn’t really lying in bed asleep. Clearing her throat, she walked forward and sat down, although a little bit away from them all so as to keep herself safe, not wanting a repeat. What if this was that creepy Oneiromancer up to his crazy schemes all over again? “Why are you all acting like you know me when I know none of you?” She didn’t mean for it to come off as rudely as it might have sounded but it did. Certainly not meaning to offend. Simply protecting herself for very obvious reasons.
 
As she sat, and spoke, severqal of the mages around her chuckled.
"Lass, ye ought relax a tooch. Ye carry tah staff. Jes lak the rest a' us." A man near her said with a smile, a heavy burr in his voice making him sound like he came from somewhere far away.
"And now that you've carried it, and slept with it nearby, you're meeting us all!" The woman who'd spoken earlier chimed in.
"We're not properly the spirits of the previous holders or the like. We're not trapped here." A man explained. "We're more like...echoes. A leftover remnant of great powers. But we still know magic. And now that you're carrying us, we'd like to help you. If you're willing. We can show you magic that your mentor doesn't know of. He's not an Abjurer like we are. So while he might be able to show you creative ways to blow things up...we cna teach you better ways of keeping yourself alive."
 
Instantly, her attention was captured by the man with a heavy accent that made her concentrate all too hard, not so much to what he was saying but how he was saying it. Sure, she did understand him but she found herself staring too long until her attention was finally swayed to the woman who seemed all too excited and eager for Ewyn to be there, meeting them all. But what really baffled her was she was meeting people who once held the staff, other mages whose power still lingered inside of the weapon, enough to clearly call out to her in her dream. She wondered how it would have been if she cuddled with the damn thing.

A smile formed onto her face and she felt quite a bit of honor. Incredible power of these mages were embedded in the staff and they wanted to help her. Her! They could teach her things that not even Master Gall could be able to do based on the focus of the kind of magic she was to learn and harness. “I’d love that.” She said softly. “And you’re sure you want to help me? I’m merely a fledgling compared to the lot of you. I get nose bleeds.” She grimaced. “Is there a way for that to not happen anymore? I’d very much like for all of my blood to stay where it needs to be and not be pumped out of my nose at the rate it happens.”
 
There was a chorus of chuckling from the mages.
"Ach, tae be yoong agin." The man rumbled. "Ye can call me Fearghus. Of clan Dunbroch. And ah might be able tah help ye lass." He nodded, running his mind through a few quick checks. An echo of pwoer he might be, but even an echo had power. Ewyn would feel a faint tingle as faint magic rolled over her. It was sensing, getting a feel for her mastery level.

"Ach lass, yer Gift be screamin' in exhaustion. Put it through some rough work taday. Thas guid! The harder ye work it, the stronger ye become!" Feargus announced. THe woman nearby spoke up.
"The nose bleed was just your Gift being pushed to extremes. The stronger you make yourself, the rarer it will be." She explained. She glanced at Feargus.
"Arcane. Pure." He said. The woman whistled.
"Rare! Congratulations miss! It's not often that an Abjurer get's a pure arcane gift. It's usually aspected. Like Ella over there." She pointed to a taller woman with long white hair. As the finger aimed at her, she raised her hands, and ice flowed out, making a short lived barrier of ice before her. Others did similar demonstrations, with some using stone, some using fire. Only five summoned the kind of ghostly light of a shield that Ewyn was used to.
 
Ewyn looked among them all, her head turning back and forth as she tried to understand just what was so funny. There was nothing funny at all about having nose bleeds or even dying by frequent nose bleeds! It was seriously and most certainly not how she wanted her body to be drained of her blood. Not that she ever wanted her body to be drained of her blood or have it sucked out of her that is.
Looking to her officially new favorite heavily accented man who went by the name of Fearghus. She was warming up to him but then his accent for some reason calmed her down. Then again, any accent did that to for her really, made her listen and actually pay attention. Even in her dreams, she had a very short attention span.

A small shudder went through her and she didn’t pick up on it right away until she saw the reaction from Fearghus, making her realize he did that, he made her shudder. It was a tingle of magic. Oh, she felt it, even in a dream! That was powerful!
Unfortunately though, they said the exact thing she feared they would say, the exact thing that Master Gall had even said. A small groan came from her and she leaned forward against the table rather unhappily, slumped. “I’m going to die before I ever see a battle and be absolutely and extremely useless to Master Gall.” Something about how they raved about her gift though, the rareness it possessed, that she possessed, uplifted her a little bit. To realize that she could do something that not many Abjurers could do, it made her feel a little special. Not like she was suddenly felt as though she was so important, there wasn’t anything she couldn’t do. No, it was one of those things where she could really contribute something to help Master Gall, more than just another force of magic.

So she watched the demonstrations in wonder but learned that while majority of them could use something to make their barriers, only a handful of them could do it like Ewyn did, making it out of nothing. And these were all the powers that lived within the staff, she honestly believed that she would be able to assist Master Gall really well when it came time to stand their ground against the dark forces that wanted to conquer. She wasn’t going to rely on it but it most certainly didn’t hurt to know that it was there, as sort of an assist like she would be to her teacher. “And you all live in this staff? That is amazing…But I don’t understand. When you say that an Abjurer can acquire a pure arcane gift? What does that mean? Is that bad?”
 
"It means you're not limited in what you can use to defend yourself. You can learn anything that we have to teach you." Ella said calmly. Fearghus nodded.
"The lass be right. 'tween Gall and the lot a' us, weel get ye whipped intae battle ready shape!" The big man announced with a wide smile. A man approached, taller, and lithely built. "Ach, this be Alduin. Master Abjuerer soom century past." Alduin inclined his head.
"Excellent to meet you miss. Now. You would like to become better at the art, that is correct? Then I believe I can help you quite a bit." His voice was low, smooth, and felt polished and refined. This was a man who had lived some of the very fine things in life.

"Now, Gall is an Evoker by nature, so while he has great talent in wrecking thigns, he may not be nearly as gifted in defences. Let me guess. He started you with a wooden fence?" He asked, cocking his head.
 
She smiled. Oh well that was certainly a lot better than she actually thought of and she was definitely happy to know she could be of great use and assist to Master Gall. It was to nice to know she wasn’t technically alone in this and that she wouldn’t be killing herself before she ever saw a real battle, before she ever saw the true potential of her magic and what she could do. Turning her attention, she looked to the man who approached them, the one called Alduin and she knew that name and instantly got excited. She read about him in one of her books. He was one of those that was the stuff of legend and she got to meet him? She was going to learn from him? Oh, why hadn’t Master Gall given her this staff long ago?

She stood and bowed, as if she could bump her head against him, showing her respect. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Sir. I’ve read a lot about you in my studies. This is something that could only happen in dreams.” Funny she should say that.
“Yes I would, I would be incredibly honored if you could.” She nodded her head again, a big smile on her face, she just might burst from the excitement and honor. “Correct, he did. It worked well too. As of right now, he’s having me picture all things sharp and dangerous to surround against my fence, or something of that idea. Why?”
 
"Hm." Alduin said as Ewyn confirmed Gall's teaching method. "He's an evoker. And he thinks like one. A fence. You're not herding cattle, or looking to keep prying eyes away. Come now. Let's imporve your shield. Call it forth." As the white barrier appeared, he looked at it, and nodded. "Well. Acceptable for a novice. But we can do better. Try to picture things like this. Change the wood. Make it...iron. Make an iron fence. And top it with barbed wire." He told her. There was a general murmur of approval. It wouldn't make her change her barrier at it's most basic level, but with the differing materials in her mind it would make it much better able to take punishment.

"Now, you spoke of sharp objects. I assume that means you have learned to detonate your shield? That is good. But now...instead of simply detonating it, picture it...shattering. Those iron shards are now part of the weapon that you wield." Alduin explained.
 
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