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       #Post#: 406720--------------------------------------------------
       Re: An Interesting Inquiry 
       By: guest1383 Date: May 5, 2016, 7:42 pm
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       The woman's eyes beheld his, unaware of how unsettling the
       intensity of her gaze could be. Her eyes peered much further
       than the surface, with hues reflecting the sharp ridges of ice
       that could easily cut into a soul.
       Of course, it was of no coincidence to him. A mage so powerful
       with a claim to fate, certainly held no fear.
       She inclined her head. "Yes, I agree. But then, you did them a
       favor- keeping them imprisoned by their own ignorance. I wonder
       what shame and guilt they would have carried if they had
       realized the extent of their crime."
       "The world is never fair. Perhaps it attempts to balance itself,
       but never is it fair," she replied, dropping her gaze
       momentarily to the book before her.
       There was too many words hanging on her tongue and none of which
       she knew how to speak into existence. This conversation was
       taking a sensitive and personal turn. It only worsened as he
       turned to the book, opened it, and pasted images on the room
       around them. She had to force herself to stay still, especially
       when a familiar scene took form. Her heart sank, a sickening
       feeling that tightened her gut and flared her nostrils.
       Fortunately, the scene dissolved, but her eyes were slow to
       return to his. She was much too aware of her reaction to seeing
       the images. Shame flooded her expression.
       Gabriel revealed her late husband's backstory, giving an
       explanation of his actions. Dissatisfied with this answer, she
       stayed quiet as he sought out some more books from the shelves.
       The silence would draw out as he returned and sat there without
       utterance. Finally, he would speak again, bringing with the
       words a sense of despair, but she hardly noticed anything
       outside her own inner battle.
       Her features became strained as she was forced to recall
       suppressed memories. When he finished, she immediately abandoned
       her seat to stand in front of the window closest to them.
       Silently, she gazed out of the window.
       Dark, brooding clouds had covered the sky since her arrival. The
       coming storm enticed the wind. It was almost seductive, the way
       the sky screamed with thunder and thrashed.
       "You prolonged the woman's life so that she could curse him. In
       turn, I suffered because of the curse. Hence the fact that life
       is never fair," she murmured. She smoothed the skirt of her
       dress idly as she reflected on his words. "But then one could
       argue that my actions pushed him over the brink."
       Rowena did not say what she thought, but it was evident in the
       way her shoulders slumped as if an invisible weight had just
       been placed on her shoulders.
       She finally glanced at the man, considering him. He was
       terrifying and strange, yet beautiful in the oddest sense of the
       word. Not many would know how to take such a man. But she knew
       there was more; much more than others probably desired to see.
       "At first, it came in only spurts." A film covered her eyes, a
       film created by the ghosts of her past. "If something disturbed
       him, he would generally become infuriated enough to display his
       anger in not very affectionate actions. It seems that in most
       cultures today, it is called abuse, but in that age it was known
       as discipline, a man keeping his family in line."
       She shook her head, unable to shake the emotions that followed
       the memories. Her hands slid over her arms as the air suddenly
       cooled.
       "I never wanted to marry, never asked for it. He was much older
       than I, almost in his fifties." She sighed. "Maxwell came out of
       nowhere. I knew I could never divorce. The Catholic church would
       never allow a wife to divorce her husband. There was no where I
       could run. My family was very influencial and even more was my
       husband in all his wealth and power. If I ran, I knew I would
       either be found and shamed, or homeless and penniless. So, I was
       willing to end it. That night I had the poison in hand, ready to
       drink it when Maxwell stumbled upon me while doing his evening
       chores."
       A faint smile appeared on her lips as she remembered him. "I
       never told him what he had done that night. Then, some time
       later, he convinced me to go with him. It had been after a
       rather bad run in with my husband. I agreed. You know the end."
       Lightning flashed outside the window, outlining her hourglass
       silhouette with a yellow glow for a mere second.
       "I don't understand though," she admitted, folding her arms over
       her chest. "Why are you interested in me? Aside from the power,
       I have nothing of interest. The power I won't use because of
       where it came from. He used it to torture me. Why would I want
       to use it?"
       #Post#: 409529--------------------------------------------------
       Re: An Interesting Inquiry 
       By: Gabriel Darkfire Date: September 10, 2017, 5:19 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       The lightning flashed through the sky outside casting the
       library and her within a beautiful yellow light, seconds ticked
       by until the flash subsided leaving them both standing there in
       silence. Seconds turned into minutes before her voice pierced
       the silence like a knife through butter calling him on his
       interest. He thought, his eyes slipping shut each word she had
       spoken swam in a massive pool in his mind. There were a many of
       things he could say or do to show her that her life was not
       over, that her life could lead into a brighter one for many
       generations to come. Seconds turned into minutes, and minutes
       into hours it seemed before his eyes slipped back open. His plan
       was perfect and could maybe wake up the girl to her own destiny,
       her own fate. Gabriel extended his hand forward towards the
       girl, a light smile dancing upon his lips.
       “Rowena do you trust me enough to show you something that nobody
       else has ever seen, a journey that could bring ruin and
       devastation to everything that you may know? If so take my
       hand.”
       When Rowena grasped Gabriel’s hand, the library around them
       seemed to shift in on itself simply fading from their view
       leaving them standing on a white space. Seconds ticked by, each
       second bringing the white closer and closer to the end of their
       journey. Almost all at once a light of blue pierced through the
       white and began expanding, the light bringing forth a land. The
       ground was covered with blades of grass that brushed against
       their knees, the feeling exciting a pain and a slight tickle to
       their very touch. The sky was a deep dark navy color with white
       lights just spread out enough through it to give them a
       brilliant display upon a canvas. Gabriel let go of her hand at
       this point and pointed in the distance towards a small city lit
       ablaze in flames, even from here they could make out the small
       gathering of townspeople and the knight that stood in front of
       them.
       “What I can gather from the history of mortals this is called
       the holy crusades, this is the origin or at least the first
       known record of the power that rests in you making its first
       appearance. Watch the older woman kneeling closer to the knight
       and how they interact.”
       The knight steps forward towards the older lady his horse behind
       him neighing loudly, his armor clanked and wheezed on each of
       his movements. He stops inches from the woman, his eyes shift
       down upon her as he raises the edge of his longsword and rests
       it against the back of her neck. “For your insolence and the
       neglect for your people to choose to fight on the side of God I
       sentence you to death all of you.” The knight rose the sword up
       into the sky and went to bring it back down upon the woman’s
       throat, as the blade inched closer to her the very air itself
       seemed to manifest into a mist of crimson red. It poured over
       the woman and the townspeople holding them within its dark
       embrace. The woman rose from her kneeled position and stepped
       towards the knight, her once brown eyes now a deep crimson red,
       the knight’s blue eyes recoiled in terror as the woman
       approached but before anything else happens the scene fades
       becoming the library around them once again.
       “Why do I have an interest in you Rowena? The answer to that
       question is quite simple, the magic inside of you, that lays
       dormant inside of you rivals mine in power and could be used to
       change the entire world for the better. The woman that you saw
       in the memory is your late husband’s first generation and the
       last one to use the power to save others rather than just
       herself. She never harmed anyone with her power and instead
       brought peace and prosperity to a dying world. Every generation
       after her brought plague and famine to a living world, and I
       think that the power has found someone that could break the
       cycle of hate and anger with the power. For the next to be
       consumed by the power will force us to have to end the powers
       fate. That’s why I have an interest in you and have faith in
       your ability to bring good things with that gift that you have.”
       #Post#: 409532--------------------------------------------------
       Re: An Interesting Inquiry 
       By: guest1383 Date: September 10, 2017, 6:51 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       Rowena watched him from the closing of his eyes to the reopening
       when he peered at her once more with blue orbs so insightful and
       wise, she could almost feel the shame and inferiority taking
       their claim on her heart, painting her cheeks with crimson which
       sharply contrasted the otherwise pale skin.  It had not been
       often after the vicious attack that someone looked her in the
       eye rather than the scar.  Alone, his eyes holding hers had such
       an effect that it made her reconsider her stay more than once.
       Still, when he offered his hand, she felt herself compelled to
       follow through with what she had started when having first met
       him, and she accepted it.  Delicately, more so methodically than
       gentleness, her fingers slipped into the palm of his hand.  The
       feel of each individual finger coming into contact with his bare
       skin alarmed her nerves and deepened the red along the arches of
       her cheekbones.
       There was an obvious indication of discomfort when she stood to
       her feet beside him, but that was to be expected considering
       past involvements with men.  When the scene around them was
       suddenly altered, her grip tightened.  As colors breathed into
       the white that surrounded them, she watched intently and waited.
       The area settled, revealing something out of a movie.
       When Gabriel dropped her hand, she immediately clasped her hands
       together and knotted them against her stomach.  Her expression
       remained unreadable as she looked on, but there was a hidden
       current beneath the blank canvas etched across her features-
       like the calm before a storm.
       Despite what nature intended for beauty, the burning city and
       the happenings summoned a sense of foreboding.  She started at
       his words, the sudden intrusion of them disrupting a thousand
       unspoken thoughts.  Heeding his instruction, she glanced down
       and watched.
       "Gabriel," she breathed, her voice caught somewhere between a
       gasp and a whisper, watching as the man's blade glint venomously
       in mid-air.
       If this was history, then it could not be altered.  The events
       that played out were inscribed in the pages of the past which,
       much like her own, could not be changed just because there was
       cruelty.  Rowena wanted to intervene, but knew it was
       impossible.  Instead, she forced herself to continue watching as
       the knight lowered his weapon to the woman's exposed neck.  She
       found herself wishing for Gabriel's hand for something steady to
       hold as she watched, but her hands remained tightly together in
       an unbreakable grip.  Then, the course of the scene suddenly
       changed and the knight was to be defeated.  The energy stemming
       from the woman intrigued Rowena, but before she could see much
       more their surroundings settled back into the library.
       As he spoke, she found herself pacing the library floor.  The
       soft footfall was the only sound aside from Gabriel's voice.
       When he had finished, she found herself leaning against the
       windowsill, peering out into the storm.  Moments passed before
       her shoulders relaxed and a studying inhale passed her lips.
       "I never asked for this."  The words came out in a defiant
       whisper.  She knew no one asked for something like fate had
       given her, yet she childishly wished it had been different.
       Eyes brimming with unshed tears, she glanced over her shoulder
       at him and asked in a faraway voice, "What if I become the
       monster he was?  I cannot control it, I'm not strong enough."
       Although she did not say, she had tried to heal the scar and it
       had ended terribly.  The power she had summoned was
       uncontrollable and had consequently wreaked havoc on her body.
       She was no more able to control the power as she had been her
       husband.
       Turning her back to him once more, Rowena stared out, watching
       the storm torment the skies.  Blond ringlets fell over her
       shoulders as she did, hiding some of the bare skin of her
       shoulders that her dress left revealed.
       #Post#: 409534--------------------------------------------------
       Re: An Interesting Inquiry 
       By: Gabriel Darkfire Date: September 11, 2017, 1:59 am
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       Control
       Is that the reason the fates brought her here today? Was he
       supposed to show her, what others had shown him all those years
       ago? This time his mind wandered back to years before he was the
       keeper of fate, to the day that he wondered through the golden
       arch-way to this library. He had come in here with the same
       questions for a power that he himself had gained through a
       greedy means, he wanted to control that power that he had taken
       from a pool of knowledge that had turned him into the broken
       entity of magic he was. The woman had seemed to break pulling
       him from the own shattered parts of his mind, maybe it was time,
       time he had displayed to her what the lack of control could
       eventually do to her. Gabriel grasped the top collar of his
       cloak and pulled it apart allowing the simple piece of fabric to
       fall away from his body and slip to the ground where it
       disappeared into a pool of energy. Underneath the cloak however
       was not the body of a man nor anything at all.
       Energy
       Energy is what guides the whole universe every living being
       needs a form of energy to survive, and this is what Gabriel
       needed to survive. Before Rowena stood well just that energy in
       its purest form, Gabriel’s entire body flowed; or lack of a
       better term was energy each flow seeming to act as the functions
       of a body on a normal person. He allowed her to take in the
       sight before once again the cloak from before reformed upon his
       body. He stepped back to the shelves of book, gloved hands
       guiding along the spines searching until he found one specific
       book and tossed it on the table where the chess board had once
       been. The book a deep sapphire blue color donned with the same
       designs that he himself had been donned with. He eyed the book
       on the table before his lips parted and allow a light sigh to
       pass through the part.
       “Rowena, control is something that can be taught can be gained
       through experience. Magic even that which was gifted to you to
       take the taint from its history does have a terrible cost. The
       scar is a form of power that signifies that you have the power
       and is used as the source of that power. Many of mages before
       you who lacked control and hid their powers were consumed by
       them, if they were lucky they had enough power to sustain them
       in a form like mine if not they simply faded and became nothing
       more than they were in the first place a part of the circle of
       life. You have something your husband lacked when he took the
       first wrong path. A chance.” Gabriel snapped his fingers and
       outside the storm that had raged on merely faded leaving the
       bright light of the moon piercing through the clouds of the
       night sky. “Allow me to help you change the world for the
       better.”
       #Post#: 409537--------------------------------------------------
       Re: An Interesting Inquiry 
       By: guest1383 Date: September 12, 2017, 6:22 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       Her thoughts, a muddied disembodiment of a past spent at the
       jagged edge of fate's cruelty, were interrupted when the man
       paused and gave a studious tug of his cloak, causing it to fall
       in a heap at his feet.  Betraying her bewilderment, her
       almond-shaped eyes broadened into full-circled disks as she
       peered into nothing but rippling energy.  A strange urge to
       extend her hand and brush the energy with her fingertips to test
       the solidity of it, momentarily overwhelmed her.  Did it feel
       like water?  At the end of her fingers, would it break and
       dissipate like wrinkles in liquid?  But most of all, she
       wondered how the power would feel if it were hers.
       At the thought, her eyes deliberately snapped back to the
       window.  The breadth between her shoulders tensed as her erratic
       heartbeat thrummed beneath the palm of her hand against her
       chest.
       Rowena.
       The sound of her name on his lips shortly before him accusing
       her of holding the power to better the world, was the only thing
       that kept her sober enough not to laugh at his words.  Still, as
       she stared out in the expanse of stars and darkness, she could
       not help but notice that in order for the twinkling lights
       hovering overhead to shine, they first had to be submerged in
       it.  She was certain she had recently read an old poem that had
       the reasoned the same, but where did that leave the sun?  The
       sun did not need to experience the throes of black nothingness,
       the bottomless certainty of fear and to be caressed by death
       only to be deprived of its gift.  No, the sun shone regardless.
       All the poet did was romanticize hopelessness.
       The storm returned, returning to its former glory in ferocity
       and destruction.  She took solace in watching it as the silence
       between them grew weighty.  That was one thing that had became a
       constant in their relationship: contemplative silence.  After a
       while, she submitted to his exertion of energy, permitting the
       storm to pass once again and the skies to return harmonious.
       Worn, Rowena turned to Gabriel.
       "What if the world is far better off without such destructive
       lineages roaming throughout it?" she whispered, finding the mood
       and the quiet around them too much for anything louder.  Long
       lashes brushed her cheeks as she looked down at the hand holding
       the skirt of her dress.  "I'm not some broken toy that can be
       fixed.  This power was never meant to be mine and neither, I
       would bet, is the power you contain, yours."
       Her footfall was soft against the library floor, barely
       detectable, as she crossed the space between them.  The path of
       her gaze never changed until she was close in proximity to him.
       When she did look up, her blue eyes appeared tortured and
       transparent in the subtle wash of moonlight.  Her breath caught
       momentarily, before working itself out of her throat and past
       her lips in a exertion of conflict and heaviness.
       "The scar is a representation of cruelty, nothing more.  What I
       have is a curse, not some noble calling to save a world that
       forgot me and left me behind to be trampled over by a lost
       soul."  Lifting her fingers to her face where the scar was, she
       glanced away.  "Perhaps, you can see beauty, but I choose to see
       only reality and truth.  Yet, I think, you are correct."
       For the first time in her lifetime, she opened the chasm within
       her and felt the energy flow with such fluidity, she was certain
       he had been correct about the magnitude of its capability.  She
       gasped as it overwhelmed her senses.  In that moment, she felt
       the temptation she first had when he had exposed his true
       essence, and knew she was making the right decision.  Where her
       husband's ancestor had been enveloped in a crimson hue, she was
       bathed in a bright yellow that rivaled the moon's glow outside.
       She extended her hands and held the energy, all of it, in single
       orb watching it as it hissed around her fingertips.  The scar
       had vanished, leaving behind flawless skin and features that had
       once aroused greed and cruelty from those closest to her.  A
       smile lingered there as she watched.
       "I was never meant for this." Blue eyes sought his own as she
       reached out and grasped his hand with hers and placed the orb in
       it. As the orb passed from her fingers, the glow began to
       dissolve and her image with it.  "Thank you, Gabriel."
       The woman smiled until the light vanished completely, taking her
       and her centuries of misery with it's otherworldly presence.
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