[~Defacing Reality~] CRP

[Krail]

Disco Mages

	I never understood the desire to escape the truth, to escape reality. But I'm starting to see why its so alluring, the promise of a world without pain, without suffering. Its all such a beautiful fairytale, one where the bad people are hidden away and the good live peaceful lives. Its time to shake it up, kick the beehive into the fire !

"Sir please, I highly doubt you'll be able to control the doorway...if your calculations are like last weeks then I truly don't wish to clean up after your mess...those Devil Imps left quite the mess." Karcier stopped his work with the crystals and gave his steward Arnaud Leroux a cold stare at the dark skinned steward.

"You really need to loosen up, whats the point in life if you can't take a few risks here and there...be a good chap and fetch me the Crystal calibrator I think I almost have it tuned.." Karcier knelt back onto his knees and adjusted the crystal with graceful fingers, his steward Arnaud had been with him since Spirus when they first met. A lone orphan that had been wondering the streets, Karcier at the time had given him a Sai to survive longer out on the cold streets of Spirus outskirts but eventually when the young man had been caught and risked loosing his hand Karcier had stepped in and offered the judge an alternative punishment, to serve Karcier as steward. Since then Arnaud had been loyal friend even if he still went out to steal every so often.
"I still don't like you playing with these things Sir." he said leaving the room for a moment only to return with the tool. "Here your...Crystal...Calthingy"

Without turning Karcier took hold of the tool, grasping its handle and bringing it towards the crystal. The tiny ant like pincers held the crystal and lifted the crystal ever so slightly up into the air, a few inches more until the crystal shun a bright blue light. Karcier grinned and gently loosened the pincers and handed the tool back to Arnaud. "See...no explosion..no Devil Imps coming in to ruin your hair...all is good !"

The ability to create doorways into a memory world was a gift that Etaine had given to him, at first his attempts had merely replicated memories and dreams which lasted seconds but as his failures grew so did his boldness. He never liked failure especially when the guide to it was imprinted in his head yet making sense of it was the trouble, so he had to improvise with certain aspects.

Karcier laughed as he jumped to his feet with youthful energy."Well lets hope this is it..for you sake don't want you having to clean Gremlin droppings eh" Arnaud merely shook his head and walked back upstairs, leaving Karcier to his office were he wrote into his journal of experiments. It was something he'd realized that this was part of Etaines traits leaking into his own, experiments was never something he'd think of.

	"Dear Journal, This is the 11th attempt at creating a stable doorway into an empty dimension. Now the idea still remains, this empty dimension will serve as a means to replicate the memory which is implanted into this crystal. Now because I don't know how to acquire memories yet I've had to use my own..which needless to say are rather messy. I dare say the last memory was more patches of land held togethor by bright rainbows...I don't even know were the Devil Imps came from...in any case this one is the memory of me becoming King...so its far more recent meaning more stable...although I still don't know what will happen when the memory ends. But its all part of the fun, the unknown is so exciting ! End of Journal

[Krail]

Practise makes perfect
Arnaud had cleared the room as usual of anything none essential to the test, all that was left was the metallic frame with the various gems and crystals within it and the pedestal that was a meter away from the metallic frame, its bright crystal hovering a few inches from it held only by faint blue magic. Karcier performed the last few checks on the crystal to ensure the memory within it was intake, to his amazement it seemed to be stable. The earlier attempts had caused the memory to become corrupt or were simply not memory but idle thoughts and dreams. He'd wanted to ensure past mistakes were avoided, that and make sure Arnaud had nothing to complain about.

Karcier stood infront of the pedestal he turned for a moment to Arnaud whom held a blank parchment ready to write. "Attempt number 12, I have altered the angles of the crystal and added a new set of memories within it. It is my hope that the empty world..or dimension will be filled with the memory within the crystal offering me a limited but controlled environment. Previous attempts have shown signs of harm being possible and trauma to ones mental state although knowing myself that shouldn't be a problem." he nodded to Arnaud. "Oh mages be kind today..." he said quietly as he raised his hands over the crystal and infused his own magic into it.

The crystal began to twirl, static magic made itself apparent as it leapt from Karciers hands to the crystal and back. The pain was manageable, a simple tingle if anything else. The ground began to shake ever so slightly, he noticed dust falling from the ceiling and he wondered for a second if the basement might cave in. The crystal shard lit up bright blue, its light reflecting off the gems within the metallic frame which seemed to flow like mist. The doorway soon became alive with magic, a bright light followed by another tremble within the basement. Karcier and Arnaud were both blinded for a few moments and upon opening their eyes he smiled.

"Success, Arnaud write this down. Attempt number 12 shows promise, the initial set up for the doorway has yielded no explosions or negative effects thus far, this means I've done something right, I've yet to find what I did differently. I will see how long this doorway will last before venturing in."

It was like a blank canvas, thats what it reminded him of. A blank page waiting to be written, he took a few steps in the seemingly endless realm he'd come into. His footsteps echoed onto the floor leaving pulses were he stepped like drops onto water, he looked all around him feeling nothing was his body even there. This was truly beautiful, a place devoid of everything waiting to merge into whatever it desires.

Karcier had always wanted to relive in Kelona before its destruction and with the help of Etaine this would be possible, he could see his father and mother again if only for a few moments. He noticed the blank world slowly forming colors and sounds, he himself was but a floating mind which found another form to meld into. His name, Thane Delanuit he stood at the helm of a ship hands clasp behind his back watching quietly into the distance. It confused Karcier until he the sea took form, waves rushing past them alongside the wind.

This wasn't the memory he'd expected, this was a story he'd read many times one he'd written himself. He was in a memory, one he'd made up himself. He wondered if he'd remain in control or simply be a watcher, would he suffer like he did in the past attempts or would it merely be like a dream. "There's only one way to find out" his voice echoed all around him, as he relaxed and watched.

[TheStoryTeller]

(ooc- The following is a short story I wrote, it belongs to me. The notion is Karcier is reliving this memory, which is infact a memory of him reading something he (I) wrote as a story makes sense right )

Thane chuckled at the Captain, he wasn’t used to sailing but Thane had at least managed to get over sea sickness which unlike his fellow Shadow Hunters below deck meant he could enjoy the sea and sun. He took a moment to close his eyes and feel the suns warm rays caress his skin. Without opening his eyes he spoke.

“Why do you sail Captain Miko ?”

“I love the sea, I love the freedom of being able to go anywhere the winds may carry me…” there was a pause. “This country I call Divine, we are all fair and each work for the benefit of all. That is why, on the sea we are truly free.” Miko laughed “And you Shadow Hunter, why do you go aiding the Bannerless Trade, I thought the Empire frowned upon slavery.”

Thane opened his eyes and turned to the Captain with a somewhat quizzing look but there was no hostility on his face. Thane guessed the Captain was in his late thirties, he showed signs of old age where his unkept beard was beginning to grow a dull grey and like the rest of his crew he was tough as nails but unlike the crew he wore a dark navy blue mantle and spoke his mind. Thane smile faintly as he replied. “Personally, I go because it is my duty to follow orders…but for the Empire, well it is for their benefit to have the Bannerless Trade as friends.”

The Captain chuckled. “I’d be careful Imperial, the Bannerless Trade aren’t a good bunch heck they were founded by pirates and I heard the only reason the Empire didn’t conquer the Verssai islands was because of the Pirates navy.”

“I’d be careful Captain, others might find your opinion somewhat unpatriotic.” Thane said in a low tone. “I don’t mind, we are all entitled to our opinions.”

The captain merely laughed, Thane watched ahead, he saw the Quartermaster climb down from the birds nest and walk up to the Captain. The Quartermaster was a tall man with dark skin, it was rare to see any in the empire. The mans eyes were pure white and his hazel eyes seemed like the void, he was well built and showed it proudly by wearing loose shirt. Thane caught the gaze of the quartermaster and quickly looked away, simply listening to them.

The Coming Storm

“Captain, there’s a storm ahead. Nasty one too, don’t think we can go around it.” Said the Quartermaster of the Divine to its Captain, Thane turned to them both.

“Surely you don’t mean to ride into such a storm, going around it would be better.” Thane said but he was ignored by the Captain and the Quartermaster. He waited a minute then simply looked back at the incoming darkness that covered the skies, from afar he could hear the deathly thunder calling out, the rain slowly began to drizzle the ship and eventually it fell on them in torrents. "Crazy man." he muttered.

The dark clouds were looming over them like harbingers of death, like wild animals these dark clouds rolled over one another forming miles of darkness across the sea’s, Thane stood at the main deck opened mouthed he’d never seen such weather before. The sound of distant thunder echoed louder and closer, he heard the Captain of the Divine shout orders to her crew.

“Man your posts men, we are racing through. Signal the two the other two ships to follow !”

All of them scrambled to their positions along the deck, sails were raised in order to catch the wind and other men were tightening the ropes that held them. The wind picked up with extreme violence and for a while all Thane could hear was the wind rushing past him at all speed, he had to hold onto the railing.

“Rogue wave!” he heard a man shout. “Brace yourselves!”

Thane looked ahead but he saw nothing then he turned to the left and saw it, fear swelled within him. The rogue wave was huge, it towered over the ship like a castle towered over man. The captain of the Divine swirled her towards it, was he mad he thought. But the ship eased up the wave and came crashing down past it with barely a scratch. Thane looked in amazement back at the rogue wave which was behind them, it felt like he was a child again seeking danger for the thrill.

His excitement was cut short when he saw another rogue wave rising from the horizon, the captain growled and turned the wheel to the right. Slowly the ship began to turn and just like last time, it floated over the raising waves and landed with a loud thud onto the waters ahead.

“Watch out !” he heard a voice cry out. “To the right !”

Thane had enough time to see another rogue wave come crashing down on them from the right, Thane was thrown off the railing and onto the edge of the deck. He heard cursing from the Captain who was desperately trying to sail the ship away from the rogue wave, Thane jumped up and held onto the nearest rail he could. The other two ships had vanished from sight, he could only hope that they were fairing better than them. The ship began to creak loudly as wild winds hit its hull, by then the Captain was fighting to hold the wheel. In a flash of seconds a bolt of lightening hit the mast breaking it neatly in two.

“Fire !”

A handful of men scrambled to put out the fire on deck but they were thrown off there feet and hit the ground when smaller waves hit the ships side. Everything was happening so quickly Thane had barely any time to make sense of it all. Then he was suddenly off his feet and falling with a massive wave enveloping the Divine and its crew.

His senses were submerged with fear, he tried to stay above the raging waters but with every attempt he was cast back into the depths of the sea as waves upon waves came crashing down on him. Was this the end, he thought was he to die before even making it on land. He felt the strength leave his arms, his legs gave way with each desperate kick. Fear slowly left him as he accepted his fate, the storm had hit them so quickly he didn’t know how many had survived but the ship he had been on was burning, he couldn’t remember much the lightening had struck swiftly sending many flying over board but it had been the rogue wave that had thrown those on deck into the sea.

Slowly he drifted, his senses gone now. All sounds were muffled and he could vaguely hear shouting, everything inside him shut off one by one. He found it somewhat funny, he was to drown after all he’d survived it was not a sword that would kill him but the mighty sea. One by one his body shut down, the once gripping cold water was gone. He closed his eyes with only the thought of Ellyne before he’d killed her. Her final words haunting him to the very end.

It may have been minutes or hours, he wasn’t sure his mind didn’t register much. He felt arms pulling him out of the water, fingers faintly touching his neck and then air being pushed into his lungs. Strange accents resonated in his head. He could feel hands pressing on his chest, pushing something from inside him out.

“Taga yato no shin a!"one voice said, Thane didn't understand. “There may be more !”

“No we cannot, these sea’s are wild and untamed tonight. We are lucky to have found anyone here, let us leave before it takes us into its depths.” Said another voice, this one was rustic and old. It made no sense to Thane, was his mind trying to give him hope or was this death being cruel.


Thane tried to speak but the words never left him, he simply felt a hand on his head. It felt reassuring, he was safe or maybe this was how life would be dead, a tease of how he could of survived. “You are yet to live child.” Was the last words Thane heard, before the sound of distant thunder faded and he fell back into darkness.