112

--TheirWorld--

Adrian twitched. “Been a while since I’ve heard that name,” he grumbled in a breathy voice. He shivered. “Weird feeling, that. Can you even use the family name of a family who disowned you? I need a new name…”

“Why?” Crow asked. “You could just go by ‘Adrian, the Unskilled’! Or, ‘Adrian, the Unlucky’!”

“And you could be ‘Crow, the Cooked’, if you aren’t careful,” Adrian mumbled, resting his chin on his hand as he leaned on the table.

“How about, ‘Adrian, of the Empty Threats’?”

“‘Crow of the Empty Head’?”

“‘Adrian Sore Loser’!”

“‘Crow, the Pretentious’.”

“‘Adrian, User of Big Fancy Words’!”

“I think that one would make us related.”

“That’s disgusting.”

“You’re the one who said it.”

“Are you two done?” Margot snapped. Surprised, Adrian’s elbow slipped off the table. “The forest is filled with corruption, Imperial soldiers are crawling around everywhere, and you two are literally sitting around, playing?”

Clicking his tongue, Crow went, “Uh huh. And, really, we are doing something. We’re guarding the gate.”

“The gate that must be guarded,” acknowledged Adrian with a very serious expression. “Because all the wards and spells and things aren’t enough to keep those pesky unwanted soldiers from just walking in and harassing the High Counsel.”

Slightly taken aback by the revelation that the infamous Prince Adrian that Captain Othren had spoken so strongly of, was naught but a simple gate guard for the local Hunter’s Guild, Guin looked at the blonde man in a new light. To her, it appeared that there was little else to see than what she saw. Aside from the presence of the unicorn, whom she assumed was his familiar, he was altogether unremarkable. His clothing was made up of a simple white tunic, a pair of dark colored trousers, and, unlike Hal’s adornments on her mane and tail, he had no jewelry, or even ornate leathers. Crow looked to be better dressed than him — though she suspected that said more about Crow than it did about Adrian.

“I should think that you’d be the worst choice for this particular job,” went Margot, rubbing the side of her head. “You must have volunteered.”

Adrian gave her a coy smile. “What would ever give you that idea?”

“They do know you’re here, don’t they?” she asked. “If what Guin told me is true, more than just your life could be in danger — and you’re sitting here, fooling around!”

The all-too-familiar words sent a chill down Guin’s spine as her mouth went dry. She looked back, down the path that they’d traveled down to get there. All the time that she had spent, wallowing over what she should do, or should have done, in order to protect herself and the people around her, and she’d done none of it — all for the sake of her own curiosity. Someone had tried to kidnap her — and now, she was playing a game. Turning back, she saw a smirk playing about the man’s face. He’s not taking it seriously, she thought.

“I don’t know what it is that brother of mine is saying, but I don’t think that you have anything to worry about,” Adrian told her. “I know him well enough.”

“You have that much trust and faith in him? After all he’s done?”

“I’m very much aware of it all. What he’s done, what he’s said — what everyone around here says about him — But he won’t do anything to me.”

“Not to mention that I am pretty sure that these soldiers have no idea who he is, anyway,” Crow shrugged, rubbing his wolf’s head. “Hardly battered an eyelash when they came here, demanding to enter ‘The Den of Darkness’. What’s up with that, anyway?”

Waving it off, Adrian said, “Something Octarius or one of his people came up with I’m sure. Always the dramatic, doomsday-type. He’d break the world himself just to be hailed a hero when he’s saved it… Selfish brother of mine. He wasn’t like that when we were younger. How time changes us...” His voice was bitter as it faded off.

He very much was taking it seriously, Guin then realized. For a boy who loved his older brother, what could he do? Even if Adrian never approved of Octarius or his choices, that didn’t mean he would raise a hand against him. But in that case, if I want his help, I need to motivate him to stop him. If she couldn’t do that, she’d have to kill him. Biting her lip, she considered all the NPC storylines she knew thus far. Even if the story of the world was dictated by the will of the players, it was very likely that her actions would motivate Adrian’s in her own quest lines — and looking at his relationships with Crow and Margot, theirs would very likely turn against her if something were to go wrong with Adrian — a span of influence that might very well include the Circle.

“Pressures of royalty got to him young, didn’t they?” Crow was in the midst of musing. “With your luck, however did you manage to escape such a hell?”

A playful grin spreading across his face, Adrian leaned in. In a hushed, dramatic voice, he said, “Do you really want to know? I mean… really? It’s a harrowing tale of tragedy, romance, debauchery, and —”

“You just talked everyone you met to sleep, didn’t you?” Crow went with a yawn. “Spirits know you know how to do that.”

With a shake of her head, Margot turned to Guin and said, “Not much of a lord of darkness, if you ask me?”

“Oh!” went Adrian. “Is that what I am now? Have I been promoted from minion?” Hal left Margot’s side and laid at Adrian’s feet.

“‘Adrian, Lord of Darkness’?” Crow tested. “Has a nice ring to it — though I must be honest, it’s a bit… much, don’t you think?”

“He’s overestimating me to be sure,” Adrian agreed. “So, do enlighten me, Hunter Guin — what exactly is it that you know?”

Taking a deep breath, Guin started, “I don’t know everything, obviously, just the bits and pieces I’ve gathered from various sources throughout Miala De Ri. Lady Lithe told me much about the things that he — Prince Octarius — has done; killing the creatures of the Veil, stealing away their relics and bringing them into forgein lands. I’ve heard about the damage it’s done — and damage that has been somehow averted.” She watched as Adrian listened quietly, running his hand through Hal’s mane.

“Averted?” asked Margot.

“It is... not something I can take a side on, but,” Guin started, “There was a spirit… a spirit from my homeland whose life and pelt was stolen away by Octarius, and brought here, to the catacombs of Miala De Ri. That spirit cursed the Prince, that he and his men would die in agony — but that is not something that has come to pass.”

“Was it a weak spirit?” Crow asked, frowning.

Guin shook her head, “Regardless, the forest now is… It’s very angry. I’ve seen it — the corruption that eats this land, turning animals to monsters; making already dangerous creatures even more so. And now, now that the tree has appeared —”

“The Tree of Dreams,” Adrian interrupted with a whisper that brought them all to sill silence. “Crow and I went ranging the other day, scouting at the request of the High Counsel — no doubt in some sort of lazily veiled insult about my family. Once, Halecor was able to use the tree to travel across the world,” he said, petting the unicorn as it looked at him with great affection. “You asked me how I escaped the capitol — I didn’t. Hal stole me away, and I never looked back. It was our home. Our means of living. Now, though, she can’t go anywhere near it — not for lack of trying, mind you,” Adrian spat. As he pointed at the unicorn’s hoofs, Guin noticed that a black stain had started to creep around her ankles.

He explained, “Unicorns, or Bikrin, are special, even among spirits. They are creatures of absolute purity; this, combined with their magical properties make it much harder for corruption to take them over. They are also one of the few that can fight against it without aid — but that doesn’t mean they aren’t unaffected by it. Instead, it’s like a poison or a disease that slowly kills them over long periods of exposure. I keep telling her to not follow me into that swamp, but… She doesn’t listen very well, sometimes.”

“Kinda like you,” Crow snorted.

A lord of darkness with a creature of light, lovingly at his side, Guin thought, watching them. It was not only a creature of light, it was even the very creature that pranced its way across the crest of the Imperial family. And this would be the man to threaten the kingdom? It would almost be called a design of fate.

“I plan on entering the Tree of Dreams to find him,” Guin told Adrian in a quiet voice. His eyes narrowed. “It seems that Octarius discovered something inside of it. He’s found something — I don’t know what, but he seems to think that it doesn’t belong there. He’s requested more soldiers, and sent his acquisition to the Circle. In the letter I have, he writes about the possibility of curing it — and if that fails, he will kill it.”

Margot looked at the two men, searching for some sort of rational explanation, but they seemed just as lost.

“When you say that he found something in the tree and expects it to be cured…” Crow started.

Pale, Adrian shook his head. “Cure it… cure it of what? If there was something in the tree, it belongs there. It should not be taken, and it certainly can’t be ‘cured’. I suppose curing it of corruption is possible, but… Could he possibly think that one could disenchant a connection to the Veil? Is he stupid?” Crow smirked as Adrian finished that sentence, but before he could say anything, Adrian warned, “Don’t answer that.”

“Wait a second,” Crow went, raising his hand. “If Prince Octarius is in the tree, doesn’t that mean he has Veil Sight?”

“No one ever said he didn’t,” Adrian shifted uncomfortably. “How can one wage a war against that which he cannot see, anyway?”

“So… he can see the corruption?” Margot asked in disbelief. “He can see the results of what he’s done, yet he still pursues this… pointless crusade? Why haven’t you mentioned this before!”

With a heavy sigh, the once-prince kicked at the ground. “I have no explanations or excuses,” he said, looking down. “I can only tell you that Octarius and I are… well. We’re two sides of the same coin. He, of the Eldest, haunted and tormented by the Veil as a child and driven to fear and hatred. I, the youngest, driven to it as salvation; an escape from the loneliness of being an unneeded heir. It’s just that… he somehow manages to never have a clue as to just what he’s gotten himself into.”

“There’s more,” Guin told him, eyes falling. “He’s found the master of those corrupted spirits in the tree — a powerful being called ‘Diamorti’. From my research, Diamorti is a corrupted Rift Dweller, capable of traveling and shifting between dimensions. With his powers, he can weaponize space. Octarius plans to fight it.”

“If he does that…” Adrian went, looking up at her with watering eyes. “He will die.”

For a moment, there was silence. Then Guin said, “He seems to think he can fight it.”

His eyes went out of focus as he said, “I always knew that someday it would come to this — I just hoped it never would. He’s going to get himself killed…”

“Would that really be so bad?” asked Crow, throwing his hands behind his head. “I’d call it karma, at this point — he’s killed so many others. Now he wants to blame you for it all? I say let him die.”

“He’s still my brother,” Adrian said.

“You’re not his, apparently.”

“That might be. But he’s still mine.”

Looking unimpressed by his friends sentimentality, Crow went, “So. What’re you gonna do?”

The once-prince inhaled deeply and rubbed his eyes. Clapping his knees, he stood and faced Guin. Behind him, Halecor rose and nuzzled the back of his head. “First things first, let’s get you, Guin, in to meet the counsel and tell them what you told me — and anything else you might know. From there… If you would allow it, I would like to accompany you when you enter the Tree of Dreams.”

“Adrian!” Margot scolded, shifting nervously at Guin’s side. “You can’t do that — you’re just an initiate! You aren’t allowed —”

“Like we’ve never broken the rules before, Margot,” he went. Her face wilted as she searched his determined eyes. Adrian smiled a little and patted her on the head. “I would not be going as a representative of the Circle, anyway. Don’t worry. I’ll be careful — and it’s not like they can really stop me from becoming a Shaman for disobeying them, if it comes to that.”

“But —”

“I will not abandon him,” said Adrian in a firm, commanding voice. “Nor will I abandon this forest, or the Veil. He is my family. This is my home.”

It was easy to see that Crow wanted to fight him just as much as Margot did, but he was more restrained, instead limiting his disapproval to his face. The dark haired man looked away, as the wolf behind him whined. Guin’s eyes narrowed as she could feel the magic gather around him. Margot said he was a ranger, didn’t she? Guin thought. “Let’s get this over with,” he said, and lifted a hand. After muttering an unfamiliar incantation, the gates to the home of the Circle opened.