Creative Corner

Fun fact;
The made-up name Coligius originates from the English
word caliginous, meaning dark and obscure

[img]https://i.imgur.com/Twe3zQc.png[/img] [center][font=cambria][size=6][i]Andre[/size] [size=3]Fallen Angel, Paladin[/size] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -[/center] [center][font=times][i]First, there was blackness and the slightest falling sensation. Then, there was heat; scalding, burning heat as the falling sensation grew stronger. Finally, everything stopped.[/i] - - -[/center] [font=cambria]A distant boom tore Raze from his slumber under a tree at the edge of a clearing in the woods. He shot up, drawing his scimitars with his battle fatigue getting the best of him. His eyes were wide as he looked around for the source of the explosion, but his gaze was pulled upwards to the dark night sky as the flash of something igniting in the atmosphere caught his eye. Raze looked through the trees around him to ensure nothing was going to jump at him, then he started heading towards where he thought the something would land. He had this strange feeling that he needed to get to it as soon as possible. Sprinting through the trees, Raze was barely able to see the flaming ball hurtling towards the ground. Every chance he got, whether it was a break in the trees or him having to climb them, Raze looked up at what he assumed was a meteor and adjusted his course so that he was heading straight for the assumed landing zone, if it survived. At one point, Raze watched the meteor flash again as pieces broke off of it and began descending on their own. He swore, thinking that if the meteor kept breaking apart like that, it definitely wasn't going to make it. And yet he continued running. Raze eventually reached a thinner place in the woods where it seemed the fireball was heading to. Knowing what could happen to him if he stood right in the blast zone, Raze retreated back into the denser trees and waited for the alien material to make impact. After a good few minutes of waiting, another boom followed by the crashing and creaking of trees told Raze that the fireball had landed, so he rushed back to the thin spot in the forest and wove his way through upheaved dirt and tipped over trees to a smaller crater than he expected, and the thing he least expected to be in the center of a crater. Realizing that what fell out of the sky was a woman, Raze quickly slipped down the side of the crater to help her. He rolled her clothed form over and checked if she was alive, then attempted to pick her up and noticed a broken piece of a sword glowing white-hot that had been laying behind her. Barely making it to the upward slope of the crater; the woman woke up, ripped herself from Raze's arms and fumbled over to the sword piece, looking shocked when she realized it was broken. She picked up the large, hot piece of a blade without flinching and stood up, making Raze realize just how tall she was. She was easily six feet tall like Raze, and her long white hair nearly reached the ground. She stretched her shoulders slightly and a pair of large, white feathered wings materialized behind her as she turned to face Raze with an authoritative look that demanded information. She began speaking as she held the just starting to cool three-foot broken piece of blade down as if she were leaning on a sword. Although Raze recognized that she was speaking, he couldn't understand her. Her anger mounted when he wasn't answering her apparent questions, and he had to interrupt her, "Ma'am, ma'am. I'm sorry but I can't understand you- can you understand me?" He asked her. Her brow furrowed even more as he cut her off, but she nodded. "Yes," She said carefully. "inferior language, but speaks Common." "Good." Raze says, more to himself. "We need to get out of this hole. Please come." He says, making obvious gestures to follow him. He had dealt with language barriers before; not very well, but he was confident he could figure something out. The woman wrinkled her nose. "Understands dragon perfectly, just not familiar with the speaking. Do not insult me." She warns, picking up the blade and slowly following him up the side of the crater. When they reached the edge of the forest that hadn't been torn up from her impact, the woman brandished the broken blade, still rather hot, at Raze. "Where other piece? And where is armor?" Her wings flared as she tapped her pauldron, the only remaining piece of armor on her. "I don't know," Raze answered. "but I did see a few things break away from you as you fell from the sky." "I... fell?" She asked with genuine confusion. "Yes. How else would you have been in that crater?" The woman pressed the blade closer to Raze's throat. "Alright, I'm sorry. Look, can we pick this back up after I rest? It's not exactly day time." Raze gestures to the moon, at its highest point in the sky. The woman's eyes narrow. "Don't sleep. Dragon sleep while looks for items." She said, moving her blade to point at the ground. "That's alright as long as I can ask you a few questions first." Raze says, plopping himself against a tree further away from the line of destroyed trees. "Fine. If able to ask questions as well." She replies, sitting across from him. "Be quick." "Alright, who are you? [i]What[/i] are you? And where did you come from?" Raze begins. "Andre, angel from Mount Celestia. No idea how came here." Andre answers. "Who, what, and where." She says to Raze. "I am Raze, a Dragon[i]born[/i] from the Dydal Empire up in the North, though I'm not welcome up there at this point in time-" Andre whacks her blade into the tree behind her to interrupt him. "[i]Where.[/i]" She says more hostile. She stops and grits her teeth, forcing her words out correctly, "Where am I. What plane. What time." She says slowly. "Oh. Well, you are on the material plane. Unfortunately I could not tell you when because it has been some time since I have looked at a calendar. Or a clock." Raze answers calmly. Andre leaves her hot sword piece sizzling in the tree and rubs her head with her hands. "Alright," She says after ripping her 'sword' from the tree. "if finished, I go to reclaim my items." "That's fine with me. Just don't get yourself killed." Raze says to Andre as she heads back towards the open destruction zone. Raze hears her huff, then take off. Raze sighs to himself after Andre is gone. How in the hells had she managed to live through that fall? A supposed 'angel from Mount Celestia', [i]pfft[/i]. Inter-planar travel was impossible, there was no way she was actually an angel. Her armor had definitely burned up during her fall, there was no way that stuff could've survived. Same for the hilt that apparently busted off its blade. Raze rolled his eyes and closed them, slowly drifting back to the sleep that Andre had rudely taken him from.

[img]https://i.imgur.com/9Odk4MT.png[/img] [center][font=cambria][size=6][i]Raze[/size] [size=3]Dragonborn Half-Orc, Echo Knight Fighter[/size] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -[/center] [font=times]Poking distractedly at the eggs on his plate, Prince Coligius continued thinking about his coming demise. His father, the King, eventually joined him and his grandmother in the dining hall, and after a little more scolding from his mother, was served his breakfast and tuned her out while he ate. After realizing that she was being ignored, the empress turned to the prince and just looked at him through curious narrowed eyes for a solid few minutes, making her grandson very uncomfortable. "Aha!" She eventually exclaimed. "I was wondering why you looked like something was missing today, then I realized you aren't wearing your ring!" She reeled on her son, "Why didn't you say something earlier! He should be wearing it! If not to denote his status, then to get used to it!" The dowager empress summoned a servant over to her. "Go and fetch the Prince's nose ring, he needs to be wearing it today." Coligius sighed, "Do I really have to wear it? It's very heavy, and it makes my nose itch." The prince said, sticking his pinky finger through the piercing hole in his septum, causing his father to spit a bit of his breakfast out in restrained laughter, then follow suit with his own piercing hole in his nose. They both struggled to stop laughing as Vexith appeared next to the empress with the prince's nose ring as well two pairs of earrings that matched the gaudy nose ring. Coligius' grandmother huffed as she stood up and took the nose and ear rings from Vexith. The pair of giggling buffoons almost instantly stopped laughing. "Honestly, you'd think I have [i]two[/i] immature grandsons." She said, glaring at her son. "Stand up, Coligius dear." The prince did as he was told and squared his shoulders. The empress clipped the earrings into her grandson's ears and let him put in his nose ring while she adjusted his horn cuffs. "There! Much better!" His grandmother said as she turned to go back to her seat. Coligius wiggled and scrunched his nose trying to get the uncomfortable ring into a more comfortable position. Now both his snout and ears hung a little lower under the weight of the jewelry. "Your Highness?" Said one of the servants, who flinched slightly as all three Dragonborn royalty turned to him. "Um, Prince Imperan," He corrected. "You have a little time before your first lesson today, would you like to spend it in the courtyard?" "I'd love to." The prince said, quickly getting up and heading towards the door to get away from his grandmother. Heading into the open air, the prince watched a pair of Dragonborn sparring in the training area. "Ah! Prince!" Said one of the fighters. "Care for a duel?" "Only if you truly believe you can win, Raeron." Coligius replied, picking up a bo staff from the nearby rack of training weapons. The other Dragonborn gave Raeron an exaggerated hurt look and backed away from the ring, ready to watch him get his scales walloped. "Come on, pick a [i]real[/i] weapon! There's no way staves can do as much damage as a sword." Raeron egged. "Oh? Well I guess I'm about to prove that just a [i]training staff[/i] can do more than the sharpest sword." Coligius fired back at his friend. "We'll see about that!" The silver Dragonborn howled, settling into his starting position. Coligius calmly dropped into his starting stance and waited for Raeron to move. Raeron swung at the prince, but Coligius deflected it and popped his friend in his horns. He staggered slightly and Coligius grinned at him. Getting angrier, Raeron swung again and the prince deflected his blow, smacking him in the leg this time. Raeron's icy breath puffed out his nose as he made a wild series of swings at Coligius. The black prince quickly parried all of the strikes; and as he moved backwards, Raeron gained confidence and swung harder until one swipe almost scuffed the prince's nose ring. Until this point, Coligius had been grinning from horns to horns watching his friend try to hit him. Although he hated wearing his princely nose ring, it was one of the last gifts Coligius' mother had picked for him; therefore, no matter how he hated it so, it was priceless. The prince turned on his friend, all signs of glee gone. Raeron stopped and held his pathetic practice sword up defensively. Coligius drew himself up to nearly his full height, which was taller than both present Dragonborn. The prince spun his staff and knocked the sword out of the way as he advanced forward and Raeron backwards. "Coligius, hold on- Wait man, let's not be too hasty-" Raeron pleaded. The spectating Dragonborn's face fell open as the tables turned. "No?" Was the prince's simple reply as he tipped his head to one side. He swiped at Raeron slowly, allowing him to block the first few blows. "Wait, please, your Highness I'm sorry-" The black prince swiped at him faster, harder this time, giving him less time to deflect. "My Prince, please!" Like a blur, the prince knocked the sword out of Raeron's hand and dropped him to his knees with the staff. Looking at Coligius, Raeron saw his blank, furious stare. Afraid of what was going to happen to him, Raeron parted his jaw and used his freezing breath weapon on the prince, who staggered back a ways. Wiping the hoarfrost from his scowling face, the prince charged back at Raeron and hissed, acid mixing with his spit as he swung at Raeron's head. Coming back to his senses, Coligius barely stopped his staff from hitting his friend. Not grasping what had just happened, the staff fell from Coligius' hands as he stared past his friend, wide-eyed. He backed up a few paces before shakily offering a hand up to Raeron. "I'm sorry." Coligius said quietly. "I-I don't know what-" "No, your Highness, I should be the one who's sorry. I shouldn't have gotten as angry as I did. I'm not sure how I could make it up to you-" "It's fine, don't worry about it." Coligius said with a forced smile. "I should be heading to my lessons." He remembered. Coligius bent down to pick up the staff, but he stopped when he looked at it. "I'll take care of it, you need to go." Raeron said, picking up the staff and his sword. "Thank you." Coligius said absently as he slowly started towards one of the sets of doors leading back into the castle. The spectating Dragonborn laid a reassuring hand on the prince's shoulder as they passed him and he flinched before rushing into the castle.

[img]https://i.imgur.com/Twe3zQc.png[/img] [center][font=cambria][size=6][i]Andre[/size] [size=3]Fallen Angel, Paladin[/size] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -[/center] [font=cambria]Andre’s anger burned in her chest as she flew through the dark. Her darkvision certainly helped with finding the pieces [i][b]Who[/b] did that Dragonborn think he was to speak to her so [b]plainly[/b]?! She had lived a [b]thousand[/b] more lifetimes than him and defended the Celestial plane from [b]thousands[/b] of enemies![/i] Andre was so caught up in her rage that she almost missed her first missing piece, and what had already beaten her to it. Landing in the small crater, Andre found a large golden dragon standing over her shield. Knowing that dragons were fickle creatures, she was glad it was a golden dragon instead of a more volatile breed. “Well met, worthy adversary!” She said up to it in Celestial. It didn’t react. Andre sighed and tried again in Common, trying to keep a calm face, “Well met, gold beast!” [i]‘Well met, puny human.’[/i] It told her telepathically. [i]‘I have claimed this item, if you wish to take it from me I will not hesitate to kill you.’[/i] “Dragon is not being fair.” Andre says, breathing slowly. [i]‘Take it, and you shall die.’[/i] The dragon states plainly. “There is misunderstanding; I wish to reclaim shield, as is mine.” Andre says, forcing herself to stay calm. An outburst could cause her death, the loss of her shield, or both. [i]‘How is the shield yours? The craftsmanship is exquisite, and you are carrying a broken sword.’[/i] The dragon narrows its eyes at Andre. “Craftsmanship is same. Here,” Andre raised her arm out to her shield, which started to glow and heat up, then it flashed and reappeared on Andre’s arm, still white-hot but quickly cooling. “Take if you still believe is yours.” She quickly took the shield off and held it out for the dragon as it bristled. [i]‘You may take your shield, worthy stranger. My apologies for being an obstacle in your reclamation.’[/i] The dragon bowed to Andre and she returned the gesture, spreading her wings. The dragon quickly took off and disappeared into the darkness. Strapping her shield to her back, Andre took off and made her way back to Raze. Andre landed with a thud and Raze flinched in his sleep. She leaned her shield on the tree she stuck her sword into earlier, and made the mistake of stopping and letting her anger roil. [i]'Idiot dragon.'[/i] [center]- - -[/center] [font=cambria]“Wake Raze, need help to find armor.” Andre poked Raze and he swore in Draconic as he sat up. When Raze looked up at Andre he noticed she had actually managed to find some of her armor; she had her other pauldron, her gauntlets, and half of her tassets. “So you did find some of your stuff.” He said, rubbing his eyes. “What else do you need to find?” Andre furrows her brow and starts pointing to various parts of her body; her neck, chest, biceps, the hip that was missing tassets, and her thighs. “Don’t remember names of pieces.” Andre said. “That’s fine. So you’re missing your gorget, chestplate, rerebraces, the rest of your tassets, and cuisses?” Raze said, pointing to each place on his body in turn. Curse his military background. Andre nodded, “And other half of sword.” She said, looking sadly at the broken blade. “Wait, that's only [i]half[/i] of your sword? Dang, how big was it?” Raze asked, pulling some mixed nuts and jerky out of his bag for breakfast. “Almost tall as me. Impossible to make another. Supposed to be impossible to make this greatsword.” Andre said, still looking at the blade. “And I thought my scimitars were special. Wow.” Raze said, eating a few of the nuts. “If you don’t mind me asking, how does your armor work with your wings? Or can you make them disappear if you want?” “They can vanish.” Andre said, her wings shimmering out of existence. “Angels don’t use backplates, some wear cape or tabard to hide missing plate.” Andre facepalmed and swore, “Need find cape too.” “So you don’t wear backplates at all? Couldn’t you cut holes for your wings?” Raze asks. “No; restricts movement, make it hard to fly.” Andre answered, picking up her sword and shield. Raze nodded, happy to learn something new. “Well, since I questioned you about angels is there anything you want to know about me or the races in Ali-Cre or Eri-Mal?” Raze offered, eating more of his breakfast. Andre thought for a moment, “What are you? Have met Dragonborn, but all smaller than me. You are… big. And your teeth-” She indicated Raze’s large bottom canines, “Never met Dragonborn with big teeth or hair.” Andre said. Raze stopped and looked away from her, exasperation falling on his face. He paused before speaking, “I know this is unfair considering I just picked your brain a bit about your kind, but I’m sorry; I would rather not speak about what I am. Please believe me when I tell you that I am Dragonborn.” Raze said, his voice changing slightly- maybe reverting back to something? “Perhaps I will tell you someday if we stick together long enough.” He smiled. “Understand. Once met strange Tabaxi in a laboratory, not happiest of people- not saying you are experiment, my apologies.” Andre said quickly. Raze chuckled, “It’s alright. If it makes you feel any better, I once met an older human who was very convinced I was an escaped experiment that was made a lycanthrope by, and I quote, ‘That weird dog in the woods.’ ” Raze said, swiping his hair back between his horns. He put his breakfast back in his bag and pulled out a hair brush, starting to brush out his fluffy mane. Andre gave him a curious look. “I’d rather not have dreadlocks; besides, I think fluffy looks good on me.” Raze said, dramatically flipping his hair over his shoulder and standing up. This time Andre chuckled as Raze put on his bag and strapped his swords around his waist. “Tell me about this place.” Andre said as she and Raze headed into the woods. Raze began to explain that Ali-Cre and Eri-Mal were the names of the two sibling continents that were broken apart a long time ago. The two continents were named after the sibling gods that ruled them; Erie and Crea. About 700 years ago, the two gods got into a fight and broke the continent. They then went missing and no one had heard or seen them since. Currently, Raze and Andre were in the state of Tuspen on Ali-Cre. The Dydal Empire was further north on the same continent. Andre filled in the gaps of Raze’s history lesson where he had forgotten something, or wasn’t sure of an event. All the history he knew was basically about the sibling’s war (that everyone on both continents was taught), and whatever wars or historical events were going on when he was younger. Since then, Raze didn’t really bother keeping up with everything so Andre had to catch him up to speed with stuff that happened within the last few years because it turned out that she had been in charge of documenting everything that went on on that plane while she was on Mount Celestia. Raze then decided to tell her more about stuff he actually knew very well, which was mostly all about the Empire. Raze told her about how the previous king had tried turning his mother’s empire into a monarchy, but failed and disappeared when it was revealed that his son was a half-breed. Then the event known as the Blood Purge took place, and all Dragonborn half-breeds and defects were killed or exiled. “You know much of empire, were you official there?” Andre asked him. “In a way, I was in the military during the Purge. I guess it goes without saying that I was exiled. I should've been killed, but I guess my commanding officer liked me.” Raze answered. “So where’s the next piece of armor supposed to be?” “Let me check.” Andre said as her wings reappeared, and she carefully made her way up through the canopy. She came back down about a minute later, “Two close pieces that way.” She pointed off to their right. “Alright, let’s go reclaim some god-armor.” Raze said.

[img]https://i.imgur.com/9Odk4MT.png[/img] [center][font=cambria][size=6][i]Raze[/size] [size=3]Dragonborn Half-Orc, Echo Knight Fighter[/size] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [font=times][size=2][i]** Slight gore warning **[/i][/size][/font][/center] [font=times]Four days had passed since Coligius had almost hospitalized his friend. Since then he had attended his various lessons like history and literature, made everything right with Raeron, and did little acts of kindness for some of the various servants in the palace that he came across. He avoided his weapon training for fear of a repeat of what had happened with Raeron. Though he was only six years old- the equivalent of being a young human teen- he was much taller and stronger than the normal Dragonborn his age, and he didn’t want to test his aged teacher’s strength. Now on his way to another of his afternoon etiquette classes, the prince couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. “I don’t know what, but I swear something just feels [i]off[/i].” Coligius had told his father during their meeting that morning. “I feel it too, something is different in the palace’s magical weave. I don’t know what either, but it can’t be good.” His father agreed. He had been magically trained with different spells that could help him during his reign, and taught to be extra sensitive to the magical weave. “I will see if I can’t get one of my officers to send scouts around the city to see if there is any discord among the people.” “Father, do you think today is…” The prince trailed off. The king paused. “I hope it isn’t. I truly hope that day never comes. But with people looking into your mother’s supposed treason trying to discern if it was real or not, they’re going to find out what you two are.” Coligius turned to face his father and hugged him, tears starting to sting his eyes. His father squeezed him back tightly. “I love you dad.” “I love you too son. Let’s hope we’re wrong.” During Coligius’ etiquette class, while he was learning how to properly give a toast, there was a knock on the door. When his teacher went and opened the door, the prince saw a few guards standing behind one of his father’s advisors. “The prince needs to come with us.” The advisor said. “Gentlemen, I’m trying to teach a class. Perhaps the prince could attend you after this class has ended.” His teacher chided. The prince liked Madame Lunae, she was tough but fair in her teaching methods as in her conversations; whenever someone interrupted her class with him, she quickly shooed them out and told them they could deal with the prince when they were done. She was probably the only Dragonborn in the palace other than the dowager empress who would reject the king if he was interrupting something. “By order of the empress, Madame Lunae. If you withhold the prince from us, then we have the order to take him by force.” The advisor said. Madame Lunae gave the prince a confused look. Coligius stood up and walked to the door. “What does my grandmother need of me at this time?” He asked. “Please just come with us, your highness. I’d rather we didn’t have to drag you down the halls.” Coligius looked at Madame Lunae, who gave him a sorry look. In all her years of being his teacher for various classes, this was the first time someone actually succeeded in taking the prince from her class. Knowing what might be about to happen to him, the prince backed up a pace from Madame Lunae, and bowed. “Thank you, Madame Lunae. And farewell.” Without saying a word to the advisor or the guards, Prince Coligius walked out into the hall and was led in the direction of the outer court of the palace. [center]- - -[/center] [font=times]Just before reaching the gate leaving the palace itself, the guards and advisor left the prince with his grandmother. The empress scowled and looked down her nose at her grandson. “I can’t believe this.” She spat. “My own grandson, a half-blood.” As she spoke, the king was escorted to her in a similar fashion as the prince. “And you, my own son! Tainting our sacred bloodline, and with orc blood! You both disgust me, and now you two will pay for your crimes.” The king reeled on his mother. “What crimes has your grandson committed?! He is innocent in all of this! He couldn’t control who his mother was!” “But you could! And you chose an orc disguised as one of us!” She fired back. “Your consort was lucky she made it out of here while she could, but she left the only thing that could expose her behind.” The empress looked at the prince. “What’s going to happen to us now.” The prince spoke up. “Well, now my injudicious son is going to lose his crown and rot in prison, and you have to be executed.” The empress said, making a gesture to some guards who had appeared behind the king and his son. Both writhed and yelled as their hands were bound behind their backs and magical collars were put on them to prevent the use of their breath weapons. “NO!” The king howled. “I WON’T LET YOU MURDER MY SON YOU WRETCH.” The empress walked calmly out into the courtyard to address the people gathering there. The guards shoved both royals down the hallways until they reached the palace’s dungeon, then they threw the king and prince into a cell and locked it, then walked away. Crumpling to the floor, the dark grey king sobbed as he recalled his mothers words. Coligius got back to his feet as fast as he could and charged the door as it closed, slamming into it as it latched and was locked. He roared and hissed and screamed in an unholy fashion as he thrashed against the bars, his outrage getting the best of him. He caught his clothes and scales on the bars running into them, causing him to shred his fancy items and tear open his face and shoulders. “Coligius! Stop before you hurt yourself any more! I don’t want my last view of you to be bloody.” The king said past his tears, getting up and blocking his son. Coligius hissed at his father before snapping back to reality. “I-I’m sorry. Why does that keep happening?” Coligius said, tears starting to stream down his face as well. He buried his face in his father’s chest and his father did his best to hug him. As the prince cried, the king quietly cast a spell and the cuts and scrapes on Coligius’ face and arms healed. “Why would she do this... Why is she so cruel...” The prince sobbed. “She sacrificed too much for the empire, and I was pulling it down in front of her. She just needed an excuse to get me off the throne, she doesn’t need to kill you.” The king said, straining against his bindings. “I’ve got an idea, but I don’t want you to hurt yourself.” The prince stood up and looked at his dad. “Let’s put those tusks to use for once, see if you can’t wedge them in the chain and break it.” Coligius nodded and the king turned around bringing his arms up as high as he could. Coligius hooked one of his elongated canines in the chain and ripped upwards as his dad pushed down. The chain broke and the king quickly did the same to his son’s shackles with his thick horns. “It worked! Now what?” The prince said, pulling at his collar. It was unlikely that they would be able to get those off. “Unfortunately I think we’ll only get in more trouble if we try to break out.” His father answered. “Are you giving up? We’re so close! We just need to get these things off then we can melt the bars and-” “She’ll only kill you sooner. She has to have guards crawling all over the palace in case we would try something.” The king says, sitting down against the wall. Coligius howls again and kicks the bars, then slowly sinks to his knees and lays his head against the bars. He knows it’s true; his grandmother would’ve taken every precaution to make sure her reign was safe. Coligius stood back up and walked over to his dad, then slumped down on the same wall and leaned on him. A couple hours passed until the guards came back for the pair of royals. They were questioned about their shackles, but the prince fired back that they were still in the same cell, so what were they complaining about. Both Dragonborn were re-bound and escorted back to the entrance of the palace, where they were left once again- but without the empress. Looking out through the massive palace doors, the king and prince could see people amassed again. Coligius’ fear was beginning to rise as both Dragonborn sat there in the entrance, until the prince’s man servant rushed over to them from a side hallway. “Your Highnesses! I was looking all over for you!” Vexith kept his voice down despite his exhaustion. “There’s no time to explain; my prince, drink this quickly!” He uncorked a small vial and gave it to the prince who took it in his jaws and tipped his head back. Vexith turned to the king, “I don’t have enough time to explain, but I promise I will as soon as I can.” He turns back to the prince, “I know this is going to sound crazy for me to ask this of you, but I need you to play dead when you die, and don’t stop until I see you again alright? I cannot stress how important that is-” “Vexith what is going on?!” The king yells at him. “With all due respect, your highness; I cannot tell you now.” Vexith replies, then disappears back into the side hallway. A group of guards walked to the royals from the courtyard and began to escort them out. As the prince walked, his body started to feel... looser, less like one solid piece and more like a loose conglomeration of different pieces. The guards took the prince over to a guillotine, and the king behind his mother. When the two royals came into view of the crowd, the gathered Dragonborn started yelling and cheering. When the empress lifted up her hands to quiet them, they only yelled louder until she yelled over them. “Today,” She bellowed over the crowd. “we shall begin a new era in Dragonborn culture! We shall purge our bloodlines of imperfection, and purify our empire!” The crowd boo-ed and the empress struggled to keep a calm face. “Today we shall initiate the Era of Purity! Starting with the prince.” The crowd roared again in protest. The empress’ calm front finally broke and she scowled at the crowd. “SILENCE.” She roared back, attempting to regain her composure. “As you may have heard, our prince is a half-blood. Today his death will initiate the turn of our new era!” She turned to her grandson as the crowd bellowed louder, “Do you have a final statement?” The prince snarled at the empress and spat at her. The crowd cheered and Coligius was dragged to the guillotine, and his head put into it. The crowd’s cheers immediately turned fearful and desperate. His father was straining against his guards, starting to cry and yelling at his mother. The empress nodded, and the big blade came down onto the prince’s neck. Everything went white for a second before Coligius realized that he was looking up at the blood-splattered guillotine that was supposed to kill him. Hearing the crowd go silent, some starting to weep, Coligius closed his eyes, not wanting to look at all the blood that was pooling from the other side of the execution device, and just waiting for the gods to take him. He heard his father drop to his knees and cry as everything began to spin. Then everything went white again; the prince had died.

[img]https://i.imgur.com/Twe3zQc.png[/img] [center][font=cambria][size=6][i]Andre[/size] [size=3]Fallen Angel, Paladin[/size] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -[/center] [center][font=times][size=2][i]** Blood warning **[/i][/size][/font][/center] [font=cambria]“Damn.” Raze breathed heavily through gritted teeth as he collapsed against a tree. Andre and he had collected a few more pieces of her armor, as well as another piece of her sword. But of course they had to fight off various things that had beaten them to the items first. A rather angry pair or raccoons had laid claim to Andre’s gorget, and a group of goblins were guarding the sword piece. Cuts Andre sustained from the fight dripped silvery blood, and bruises bloomed a strange bronze color on her fair skin. Raze winced as he checked the deep gash on his side from the goblins as well, iridescent dark green blood oozed from his side and from wounds on his face, sizzling as it touched anything that wasn’t Raze himself. “I wasn’t expecting that much of a fight from a group of dinky goblins.” Raze laughed, and winced again as he held his side. “Your blood is acid?” Andre said, noticing the smoke rising from Raze’s armor and clothing as she wiped her blood off her face. “Slightly, it’s not as potent as my breath weapon.” He coughed, a bit of blood trickling out of his mouth. He wiped it away and swore again, this time using more severe words in Draconic. Andre’s brow furrowed as she understood him. “I can’t believe this.” Raze laid his head against the tree. “Do you have any type of healing items? I used my last couple of potions a few days ago and I don’t think the bandages or thread I have will hold up against my volatile vital fluids.” Raze said, struggling to take off his gear. “No,” Andre said. “I did not have a bag with me as I fell.” She stopped and thought, realizing what was going to happen to Raze if she didn’t help him soon. Then she remembered one thing she could do. Andre pulled her gloves out of her gauntlets and off her hands, and helped Raze out of his armor, setting everything aside and being careful not to touch any of his blood. “Alright, I need you to trust me.” Andre said to Raze who gave her a suspicious look. Andre started muttering to herself in celestial, “Please work, please work, please work.” She put a hand on his face and a hand above the gash on his side. His face started healing but the gash was unaffected. “Damn.” This time Andre swore. She needed to touch his skin. “I did not want to have to ask this of you, but your shirt needs to come off.” Raze coughed up more blood and spoke, “If it means I won’t die to some goblins, so be it. I’ve been in worse situations.” Raze said as he peeled his shirt off. This time Andre put both hands directly on the gash and the shiny green blood started to burn her fingers. Both the angel and the dragon grimaced as Andre focused her energy into healing Raze. Raze growled as his wound closed and mostly stopped bleeding, and Andre ripped her shaking hands away from Raze’s side and tried wiping the blood off on the grass. Both beings exhaled in relief and relaxed. Then Raze spoke, “Thank you. I’m glad I didn’t have to sit here slowly dying.” He joked grimly, taking a few deep breaths and carefully standing up as if not to break stitches. “If I’m remembering where we are correctly, there should be a stream nearby. Both of us will need to wash up before my demon blood does any more damage.” He looked at his still smoking items, then up to find the sun to figure out which direction to go. Andre stood back up and looked at her two sword pieces and shield, not sure of how to pick them up without damaging them with the dark green blood still on her hands- still burning her hands. “I’ll take them, and I’ll do my best to be careful.” Raze said, seeing her looking at her items. He carefully put the sword pieces in his bag, and strapped the shield to his back with his hand that wasn’t bloody from holding his gash. “Thank you.” Andre said, holding her hands together. “Not a problem, it’s the least I could do. Let’s move before everything gets any worse.” Raze said, carrying his still burning armor and shirt over his arm. Moving swiftly but carefully, Raze quickly found the stream he was looking for and started washing his stuff. Andre quickly scrubbed her hands and anything else that got Raze’s blood on it. She then went and sat down to rest and focus on healing her sore hands. “Have you used your blood as a weapon before?” Andre asked Raze as he washed himself and his shirt, and put the garment back on. “Not really. I don’t like the idea of having to hurt myself in order to do more damage to whatever I’m fighting.” Raze replied, splashing water up into his face and scrubbing his scales. “What about you? Ever thought about doing the opposite of what you did with healing me? Instead of restoring health have you ever taken it?” Andre hadn’t thought about doing that before, she wasn’t sure she could. “I have not. I do not think I could anyway, angels are supposed to be helpers and I think it would be a bit counterintuitive to let them both give and take life force.” Andre paused and thought about it, then moved on. “Could you tell me more about the empire? Did you know any of the royal family?” Andre asked. Raze thought for a moment. “I can’t say I did, but everyone knew about how well the prince and the king got along. He always made time for his son and made sure he was there for him when the queen was accused of treason and thrown out of the palace. It was said that before the prince was executed, the king transferred his crown to the prince, letting the failed kingdom die with him. Quite symbolistic, but I don’t think it was true.” Raze said, scrubbing his chestplate in the shallow water. Andre nodded and paused in thought. “What are we going to do after we finish finding all my armor?” Andre asked. “We?” “Oh- um, sorry. I just do not really know what to do after we finish finding the last piece of my sword, my other cuisse, rerebrace, and the little filigree piece that goes across my shoulders. I do not really have anywhere to go.” “No, you’re fine; I don’t really have anywhere I need to be either. Since I was kind of [i]laid off[/i] from the military almost ten years ago, I’ve just been wandering around; offering my services where I could, learning different trades, honing my fighting techniques. Little things just to keep busy and keep some coin in my pocket.” Raze said, scrubbing down his armor and anything that got bloody. “You’d be welcome to join me in my adventures to nowhere if you’ve got nothing else to do.” Andre smiled, “I think I will do that. Better than hanging out in the woods all day.” “Um, I hope that’s not a problem because I actually spend a lot of time in the woods. Not many people like giving housing to a massive dragon-tiefling-thing that has to duck through doorways.” Raze chuckled. “You are that tall? Yikes. I have almost hit my head on low door frames before, but you actually have to duck through them?” Andre asked, standing back up and looking at Raze, who drew himself up to his full height as he hung his soaked armor on a tree to dry. “Yup. I’m technically only 6’ 8”, but the top horns add about six inches.” He said, tapping his top set of horns. “If I only had my lower set, I’d just scrape my head on most door frames. I like to think having to duck adds a little intimidation whenever I walk into a tavern or something.” Raze said. It was good having someone to talk to. Andre didn’t have many friends on Mount Celestia, all her actual ‘friends’ were on other planes and probably dead at this point since it had been quite some time since she had been an inter-planar messenger. She could sense that Raze was glad to have someone to talk to as well. How long had he been alone? “Well,” Raze interrupted her thoughts. “should we go find those last three pieces and hope nothing else wants to kill us, or am I allowed to wait for all this to dry?” Raze asked. Andre figured that if she and Raze didn’t know each other as well as they did now, she would already be gone looking for those last few pieces, leaving him to catch up if he would even bother. “Of course! Why not? I would rather not have to pull you away from the clutches of death again.” Andre teased. “Maybe I should see if I am not able to fix some of your armor for you.” “You don’t have to do that,” Raze said, yet again plopping himself down against a tree. “I’ll just get it repaired in town. Again.” He started thinking about how much of a beating his armor had gone through just because of his blood. “It is not a problem, you are helping me essentially piece myself back together so I think it is only fair.” Andre smiled and walked over to Raze’s dripping gear, casting a simple spell she learned while she was a messenger. She felt that her powers were weak, but she was still able to cast it. Raze’s armor slowly reconstituted itself, big dents and scrapes popping out or filling in and the rather large, eroded hole from Raze’s newest, almost lethal, wound had repaired itself. When Andre was done, she saw the wowed look on Raze’s face. His armor looked brand new. When he stood up to inspect it, Andre redirected her magic at his acid-burned clothes, pair of scimitars, and the shield she had yet to see him use. “That is incredible! You know, I hate to say this but since we’re sticking together for now, I think you’re in charge of gear repairs.” Raze said, looking back at her. Andre laughed and fixed her armor where she saw a few scratches in the shiny surfaces. “That is fine with me. Now we should actually take a rest before we head back out in search of my last few pieces.” Andre said. “Right. Do you mind if I cook something? I think it’s getting relatively close to supper.” Raze said, picking a few things from his bag. “Sure. I should not have to eat, but I am starting to wonder if falling made me partially mortal.” Andre looks at a bronze bruise on her arm. “Just means you’ll have to learn how to dress wounds and get out of scraps.” Raze replied.

I'm not schitsophrenic, I swear

---

Me: (is explaining one of my drawings to myself to make sure I understand it)
Parent: (hears me and looks in to see if I'm on my phone, I'm not) Who are you talking to?
Me: Myself.
Parent: Understandable, have a nice day.

[img]https://i.imgur.com/9Odk4MT.png[/img] [center][font=cambria][size=6][i]Raze[/size] [size=3]Dragonborn Half-Orc, Echo Knight Fighter[/size] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -[/center] [font=times]“Your Highness! Your Highness, wake up!” Coligius blinked and opened his eyes. He grimaced as something in his neck stung. Then he looked at who was talking to him. “Vexith! Oh my god what happened? Aren’t I supposed to be dead?” Coligius said, realizing he was eye-level with his stout friend. Vexith sighed, “Yes, and quite literally, you are.” Vexith said, turning the prince around. Coligius couldn’t believe what he was looking at, his body was in a cart! And he didn’t have his head! “What?! How? I-” “I’m holding your head, something I never imagined I would ever do. Or say. But it’s alright, do you remember that potion I gave you? It was called Executioner’s Bane, I got it from an old friend of mine. It allows someone to survive without their head for up to twelve hours.” “That’s incredible! But tell me there’s a way to put my head back on, I don’t want to be like this for much longer.” The prince said, still looking at his body. “There is, that’s actually part of the potion. You can still control your body while you’re in this state, so would you mind sitting up for me?” Vexith said. Coligius watched as his body twitched and sat up, then spun in the cart to face Vexith. “Excellent, thank you.” Vexith said as he carefully placed the prince’s head back on his shoulders. There was a slight pain in his neck, but Coligius quickly felt whole again and realized how much of his blood was everywhere. Not liking the sticky feeling, he started trying to wipe it away from his face and neck. “Please tell me there is some place I can wash up.” Coligius said. “There is, but none of them are safe enough. Remember, you’re supposed to be dead; everyone saw your head come off, even the king thinks you’re dead. Come now, I’m late to get you to a meeting.” Vexith said, motioning to help him. “Aren’t you going to tell my father that I’m alive? He should know, I don’t want him to be lied to! And what meeting are you talking about? I thought you said everyone thinks I’m dead?!” Coligius said, hopping out of the cart and walking around the side behind Vexith, who was untying the two horses connected to the cart. “I make plans to go back to the castle and tell him soon, don’t worry about that. For now we need to focus on getting you to the Watcher Guild. Help me untie the horses, now that you’re up we don’t need the cart.” Vexith said, handing the reins to one of the horses to the prince. “Watcher Guild? Vexith please explain what is going on!” Coligius said, taking the ropes from Vexith so he couldn’t be distracted. Vexith sighed, “I’m taking you to the Silent Watchers group, I guessed you probably haven’t heard of them. They’re a mercenary group with deep ties to the empire, your grandfather employed them on many occasions, and he introduced me to their leader at one point before his death. It went without saying that nobody wanted you to die, not even one of the empire’s citizens. When the Silent Watchers caught word of the dowager empress’ plan, they sent one of their messengers to me with that potion and told me that if I could get you out of the palace and away from your deranged grandmother, they’d have a place for you to lay low until they could get you out of the empire, or you could join their ranks.” Coligius nodded and handed the reins to the other horse to Vexith, then got onto his horse. “So a group of assassins wants to potentially hire me? How fun. Let’s go, lead the way.” [center]- - -[/center] [font=times]“Here’s where we leave the horses, now we go on foot.” Vexith said, hopping off his horse and tying it loosely to a nearby tree. Coligius followed suit and followed Vexith through the trees until they reached a dock. By this time it had to be nearing midnight, but the excitement from the day and the uncertainty of the current situation was most certainly going to keep the prince awake for a few more hours. Approaching the dock, Prince Coligius saw a rather plain-looking elf sitting in a boat and reading a book. Vexith approached the skiff and carefully hopped in, motioning for the prince to follow him. “To the sand bars, please.” Vexith said, handing a couple of odd coins to the man. He looked at them and nodded. “Put these on, it gets rather chilly on the lake at this hour.” He said, handing Vexith and the prince a pair of thick, dark cloaks. “Oh, and you might want to take off the jewelry. It makes it rather obvious who you are, even in the dark.” He said to the prince. The prince’s eyes flew wide and he quickly took off his horn cuffs and his earrings. He paused before taking off his nose ring, and put on his cloak. The elf waved his hands and the boat started moving, slowly at first but it quickly picked up speed. After a good few minutes of sailing, the boat stopped. The prince looked out across the lake and couldn’t see anything but open water and fog. “Here’s your stop, best of luck on your journeys.” The elf said. “I trust you know what you’re doing?” He looked at Vexith. “Yes, thank you.” Vexith replied. He turned to the prince and whispered, “We’re going to the bottom of the lake, these cloaks are enchanted so that all you need to do is sink. Come on.” Vexith jumped into the water and floated at the surface, waiting for the prince. Coligius took a deep breath and jumped, starting to sink. He opened his eyes and saw Vexith following him down. He saw Vexith motion for him to breathe, and take a deep breath of water. After having held his breath whenever he went swimming, the prince was reluctant but eventually ran out of air and gasped, feeling the cold fluid slip into his lungs. He panicked, but realized he wasn’t drowning and continued sinking into the inky blackness. It was soon so dark that his un-Dragonborn-like darkvision kicked in, but it wasn’t of much help until he reached the lakebed. Coligius saw Vexith feeling around for him, he couldn’t see in the dark, so he grabbed Vexith’s sleeve to tell him he was there. The red Dragonborn jumped but relaxed and put a hand on the prince’s. He looked concerned and confused, and tried looking around in the darkness to no avail. Coligius grabbed Vexith’s wrist and traced a question mark in his palm. Vexith felt for Coligius’ hand and traced something back, ‘noseaweed’. Coligius looked around and just at the edge of his vision, he could see something like thick blades of grass waving in the water. ‘Isee’ he traced in Vexith’s palm again. He saw Vexith nod and started leading him over to the patch. Vexith felt for the seaweed and grabbed at it when he felt it, then pulled himself and Coligius inside the forest.

[img]https://i.imgur.com/Twe3zQc.png[/img] [center][font=cambria][size=6][i]Andre[/size] [size=3]Fallen Angel, Paladin[/size] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -[/center] [font=cambria]After about an hour, the sun had dipped below the trees and Raze had moved his fire under his clothes to dry them faster. He had made a rough supper for him and Andre and after deciding it was late enough they may as well set up camp, Raze asked Andre about the other planes she had been to. She started telling him various historical things about Pandemonium, Mount Celestia, Limbo, and Mechanus, then he asked about the Feywilds and the Shadowfell. Andre told him that the Feywilds, the Shadowfell, and the Material Plane are all laid on top of and in each other, and that the conflicting energies that kept the realms separated were what made up the magical weave on all three planes. If one were to cease to exist, there would be a huge hole in the weave where it used to be and the other two would probably collapse into each other. After Andre talked about magic and some of her powers, Raze got the idea of having a bit of a magic showcase. He would show Andre what magic he could do, and she would show him what she could do and possibly teach him a few spells. If she was being honest, Andre thought Raze was just going to sleight-of-hand or card trick his way through his little showcase, but she was surprised when he actually did some magic. “This might scare you, I don’t know how much you know about the couple different fighting subclasses I decided to learn, but don’t try to kill it.” Raze said, standing up. He closed his eyes and as his brow furrowed, smoke rose out of the ground and started to swirl in a spot next to Raze, eventually reaching his towering height and forming into an exact, if not grayscale, copy of Raze with his armor and weapons. It held his pose and looked at him as he looked at it. Andre looked at it wide-eyed, “Can you summon elementals? I did not think you could make them look like you but, wow!” She stood up and walked around it. Its eyes followed her with a confused look. “No,” Raze said as the smoke creature’s gaze snapped back to his. “It’s called an echo, though the correct term is ‘dunamis’.” Andre went to stand in front of the dunamis and tried to touch it. It flinched away and gave Andre an angry stare, she panicked a little and looked at Raze. “It’s not actually alive, don’t worry about hurting its feelings. I’m making it do all of that.” Raze smiled as the shadow of him started to laugh inaudibly. It then stood up straight with military posture and stared blankly ahead as Raze walked over to it and looked at it some more. “Really? So it is like a smoke construct?” Andre asked. “No, it’s more like an unseen servant if you’re familiar with the spell. What I do is essentially pull the essence of myself from a fading timeline and use it to aid myself in combat.” Raze replied, poking and inspecting his echo. “Is everything alright?” Andre asked him. “Yeah, I just like looking at what I could’ve been if I had made different decisions. I’ve found quite a few gory ones from timelines where I was supposed to die. I wonder where this one came from.” Raze said. As Andre looked at it, she noticed it looked exactly like Raze did when she first met him. There was almost nothing different, other than it was wearing a bunch of shiny grey jewelry, including a nose ring. No wait, this echo looked like its horns were all scratched and scraped up, and one of the bottom horns was broken. It looked tired, strained, and hurt. This echo looked like it had gone through hell. Andre circled around to its back and pulled its versions of Raze’s scimitars off its back. They were scratched and dented, one was completely broken and the shield Raze always carried but never used had very obviously been used- and was now irreparable, big dents and visible cracks shattering its glossy surface. Andre looked back at Raze, who had taken the echo’s snout in his hands like a parent would when inspecting their child’s face and was looking at the broken horn with his brow furrowed, subconsciously rubbing his own curved bottom horn. “Do you think this is from a recent timeline? I was going to say it looked just like you when I met you. Of course I do not think much has changed since what, two days ago?” Andre said, showing him the swords and shield. He took the shield and broken scimitar and looked at them for a long while before setting them down on the ground and turning back to the echo. He pulled its nose ring out and looked at it in his palm. “I don’t know. A lot of my echos look like the current version of myself, but I shouldn’t be surprised at that; all the different timelines of me as a kid evaporated 15 years ago.” Raze turned the nose ring over in his hand. Andre nodded and realized she sensed a couple of warring thoughts in his mind. She looked at the nose ring, then at the echo. “All the jewelry is throwing me off, I want to say it is from a recent timeline but can you wear nose rings and earrings now?” Andre asked Raze. He looked up at her and nodded. “Yeah, I still have all the holes from a long time ago.” He said, putting his pinky finger through the hole in his nose and wiggling it. “I’m also left-handed if you didn’t know.” He added, looking back at the ring and putting a hand on his hip. He then shrugged and put the echo’s nose ring in his nose. “Well how do I look?” He said, wiggling his nose as if he weren’t used to wearing it. Raze started pulling the earrings off and putting them on as well. Andre tipped her head and looked at him. “It suits you. Now I am wondering if you have all this shiny stuff in your bag and just never wear it.” Andre smirked. Raze smiled and shook his head, “Yes, I have all of these in my bag. It was military ranking stuff in the Dydal empire, some militaries use medals, others tassels or ribbons, but the empire uses jewelry since they have so much of it. The more special horn cuffs, arm bands, or earrings you wore, the higher rank you were. The nose ring was something I did myself as a cosmetic thing.” Raze said, starting to take everything off and handing it back to the echo who put it all back on. His ears had started to droop under the weight of all the grey rings. “I think I remember that now that you say it. But, I thought that only the royal family could wear nose rings? Would not anyone else get punished for putting one in?” Andre said. “I put it in after I was kicked out. A bit of an insult, I figured.” Raze said. “Thought that maybe I could spite the empire by being one of its most decorated soldiers running around the countryside telling my tales about how unfair it was that I got thrown out. No one wanted to listen, though.” Andre narrowed her eyes at Raze as he rubbed his nose and ears trying to get the heavy feeling off of him. “Do we want to keep investigating this echo and try to pinpoint where things could have gone wrong, or can I show you some other magic I can do? I almost forgot this was a magic showcase.” Raze said, walking over to his bag and pulling out the medium-sized pin Andre had seen him wear on his scarf previously. “Wow, I almost forgot that that was what we were doing as well. I will bet that we will figure out where this echo comes from in time, but you can dismiss it.” Andre said, reaching for the large medallion she generally kept on her cape, but stopped when she remembered that she was still missing the filigree piece that went across her shoulders and manifested her cape- and the medallion. “I do not have my focus.” Andre thought out loud and sighed. “Oh, well you can use mine- if you can, I’m not exactly sure how spellcasting foci work.” Raze said. “I think I could. My focus was the emblem of Mechanus, it was a gift from a client there after I had delivered a message. With foci, I believe that as long as the item means something to the caster it can be used as a focus for them or whomever they allow to use it. Foci are fickle items.” Andre says. “Okay, that actually makes sense. My original focus was a standard-issue arcane orb, but it got broke while I was out on a mission. This pin was given to me by one of my friends just after the orb broke, said he had found it in the market and figured I’d like it. I’m not quite sure when it started being a focus; I was issued another orb until I was thrown out, then when I tried casting my spells, I noticed I could focus what magic I have through it.” Raze handed Andre the good-sized scarf pin that was apparently his focus. Andre looked at the mess of black lines on the silver pin that went past the edges of the pin in places, then held it as she cast one of her spells. A silver circle appeared around her in the grass and she looked up at Raze. “How about this? With this spell, you cannot tell a lie within the ring.” Andre said, motioning to the silver circle around her. “Very cool, I think I’ve seen this one before.” Raze said, stepping into the ring. “Got any questions for me?” He chuckled. Andre thought a moment, “Where did your nose ring come from?” Andre asked him. “It was a parting gift from my mother.” Raze answered plainly. Not a lie. “Are you really from Mount Celestia?” “Yes, I was a messenger there for many years before going into scribing, that is why I know so much of the history of this plane and a few others.” Andre answered, that wasn’t a lie. “How long were you a soldier?” Raze’s brow furrowed as he thought, “About eleven years, then I was-” his jaw snapped shut, “then I was released from my duties.” He finished. That wasn’t a lie either, but Andre sensed that the circle had kept him from lying. “Why did you leave?” Andre huffed, “I was kicked out, wrongly convicted of something severe that I did not do. Now I am working with my commanding deity to get back to Mount Celestia and burn out that corrupt justice and their goons.” Andre said, putting a hand on her tassets. A surprised look exploded across Raze’s face and he took a step back. “Wow. I was not expecting that. I guess we’re both kind-of in the same boat. I’m 26, by the way. I’m just about certain that was going to be your next question.” Raze said. “It was. I thought you said you were laid off from the military though? How could you have been kicked out if you were released?” Andre asked. Raze’s jaw snapped shut again when he tried to speak. He fought the ring and tried to wrench his jaw open. “I’m- sorry.” Raze said as his jaw loosened and let him speak. “That question goes along with your earlier question of what I am and I’d really rather not answer that. It’s a sore subject and there is the slightest of chances that it could endanger me again.” Raze heaved as he quickly got out of the circle. “Geez all these spells are backfiring on me.” He laughed. “Maybe I shouldn’t have suggested a magic showcase. You can drop concentration unless there’s something you’re dying to know- that isn’t about my background.” He added. “I have many more questions, but I will leave them all be. I think that gives away their subject, but I will respect your decisions.” Andre said, still inside the circle. “There is no concentration for the zone of truth, it just stays for ten minutes. Maybe I could force-end it though, so we do not have to stare at the ring for the next seven minutes.” Andre says, closing her eyes and breaking apart the magical flow keeping the circle together. She then walks over to Raze and hands him his pin. “Thank you. Alright, my turn. How about a quick and simple cantrip? There’s no way that can blow back into my face.” Raze jokes as he casts shocking grasp and zaps a tree after letting the electricity crackle in his claws for a few seconds. “Very cool.” Andre says. “That gives me an idea for my next spell, could I use one of your scimitars? My weapon is not exactly a weapon at this point in time. I should not need your focus for this either.” Andre says. “Sure, go ahead. How about we call it a night after this? I get the feeling that you’re about to put my sorry excuse for magic to shame.” Raze said, putting his pin away and pulling his dry armor off the tree he had put in on to dry. “That is alright with me. As for the spell, you will see.” Andre grabbed one of Raze’s scimitars and noted that one was bigger and more ornate than the other, she made sure to grab the smaller, less decorated one, and went over to the tree Raze had hit with his shocking grasp. Whispering the words to the spell and holding the scimitar up, as it started to crackle with electricity Andre pulled it back to strike the tree. Swinging with all her might, the scimitar bit into the tree and exploded with electricity. The tree cracked and broke, falling away from Andre as she pulled the curved sword back to her side. She walked over to Raze, who had stopped halfway through pulling his armor down and was staring at the broken tree, jaw slack. Andre set his scimitar back with the other and spoke, “I am going to be honest; I have never used that evocation against a tree before, so I was not expecting that.” “No that’s fine. I was right though, and I forfeit.” He started laughing. “That was [i]awesome[/i]! I hope you know that you have to teach me how to do that now.” Raze said, pulling the rest of his armor down and adding a little more wood to the fire. “I am sure you would have no trouble learning it.”

[img]https://i.imgur.com/9Odk4MT.png[/img] [center][font=cambria][size=6][i]Raze[/size] [size=3]Dragonborn Half-Orc, Echo Knight Fighter[/size] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -[/center] [font=times]As the prince stepped in, the seaweed magically started wrapping around them and pulling at them, yanking them towards the center of the forest. Coligius lost his grip on Vexith and started clawing at the kelp in panic, but the more kelp he cut, the more it wrapped around him and pulled him faster. Then he started being pulled down through a hole and eventually was spit out into a huge rock cavern dimly lit with torches. Vexith plopped down next to him and helped the prince up. “Keep your hood up.” Vexith said. Realizing there was air in the cavern, Coligius coughed and spit out all the water, glad to be breathing air again. He looked around the caverns and saw tons of figures in cloaks like his in all shapes and sizes; some looked big and tall like orcs, others shorter like gnomes or halflings, even others with horns poking out past their hoods a bit like his having to make use of holes in the back of the hood so he could use it. Vexith had a little trouble getting where he needed to be with not being able to see in the dark, but he eventually found where they were going and went through a tunnel that led to what looked to be a commons area with a circle of doors around it. “Damn how dark it is!” Coligius heard Vexith curse under his breath. Vexith shot a spurt of flame into the room and lit it up just long enough for him to see which door they needed. He walked to the door furthest from the tunnel and knocked. “State your business.” A husky female voice said behind the door. “I’ve come with the dead one.” Vexith said to the door. After a couple seconds, it opened and the two were hurried inside with the door closed behind them. It was pitch black until a shiny purple Dragonborn struck a match and lit a lantern on her desk, then went around and lit each of the sconces on her walls. “Hail, Prince Coligius. Welcome to the Watcher’s Guild, I am Grand Master Vola.” She said. She bowed, then sat down at her desk and pulled out a small stack of papers. “I was hoping you’d be here sooner, though I suppose time has no grip on those who have died?” “I suppose not.” The prince answered. “Why am I here?” He directed this question both at her and at Vexith. “You’re here for something a bit like witness protection, except that you’re supposedly already dead. But we’d rather not have your deranged grandmother find out that you’re still alive after she had you publicly executed.” The Grand Master answered. “But why can’t I go back and show her that I’m not dead and give the people their hope back?” “Because she will kill you again.” She answered. “She already initiated her purification of the empire, so what difference would it make if you went back now? The best thing that would happen to you would be getting apprehended by the guards and killed again, that time slowly to make sure your grandmother knows you’re dead.” Coligius lowered his head and thought to himself. “Do you have any more questions, or can I ask one of you?” Coligius looked up at her and awkwardly nodded at her like he’d seen his dad do. “Are you joining the Silent Watchers?” Vola asked. Coligius’ brow furrowed as he thought. “You don’t have to decide now, but I prefer you make your decision soon-” “Yes. I’ll join the Silent Watchers.” Coligius interrupted. The purple Dragonborn looked surprised. “Alright, we’ve a little paperwork to do then, but fantastic.” “Thank you. I figure if I can’t go back now, maybe I can in a few years and kick up a ruckus.” Coligius smiled. “Let’s do that paperwork now, may as well get it out of the way.” He turned to Vexith. “What will you do now?” “I’ll just head back to the castle, should I bring you any of your belongings?” Vexith said. Coligius ran through everything he had in his room, but could only think of one thing that he really wanted. “Just that scarf my mother gave me, the black one with silver embroidery.” “Consider it done. Farewell your highness.” Vexith bowed and exited. “Sit down, we might be here for a while.” Grand Master Vola said, motioning to the chairs in front of her desk. Coligius sat down and pulled off his hood. The pair then went through all the steps of making him a file and an experience sheet; his name, nickname, age, birthday, race, height, weight, eye color, scale color, and his experiences in combat. They were basically making his employee file and his new identification papers all at once. The fallen prince answered everything he could. Coligius Imperan, 6 years old, 5’5”, 112 lbs, green eyes, black scales. The few questions that neither Dragonborn were confident with putting on the employee file were filled in tentatively, such as his race and real name, but were put in correctly on his identification. “What race are you exactly?” Asked the Grand Master. “I’m not really sure, mostly Dragonborn is all I know.” Coligius lied. Grand Master Vola shrugged and wrote something down, then showed it to him. She had written down Dragonborn/Tiefling on the race blank. “You said you can grow hair on your head, and I figure this explains that, the tail, and the extra pair of horns. We’ll most likely go through all this again when you get a little older, and since you’re so young we won’t have you going on jobs yet. You still need training as well.” She paused and looked back over the papers in front of her. “What should we do for your name and code name? I’d rather we didn’t have people recognizing you here and blathering to your grandmother.” “Hm, I don’t know about a name. Could you just leave it blank? Surely there have been a couple recruits of yours who didn’t have a name.” “There have, but I’d prefer you had one- even if it is fake. I’ve noticed that my soldiers are more likely to be picked for a job if the employer knows more about them, even if most of it is lies.” The Grand Master sat back in her chair. “Then why couldn’t you fill all the employee files out with fake information and keep the correct information on the identifications?” “Because if I put down that someone was a gnome on their employee papers and a goliath showed up to do their work, I’d lose my clients’ trust and we don’t want any of that. It’s actually been rather slow since your grandfather died, he hired the Watchers more than anyone else we’ve been employed for.” “Wow, and I never knew about any of this.” Coligius said. He paused and thought. “I have no clue what to do for a name. Do you have any ideas?” “You’re asking me? I don’t know, anything your mom or dad called you? How many of my recruits do you think I’ve named?” Coligius tried to remember some of the nicknames his mom had called him before she left. “My mom used to call me her spitbug, but I don’t know if I want everyone calling me that…” The Grand Master quietly tapped her pen on her desk, waiting for him to think of something. “What about raze? I read it in one of the books in my room and thought it was a pretty cool verb.” “Raise? Like raise the dead or rays like rays of sunshine?” Vola asked. “Raze as in utterly destroy, raze something to the ground.” “Got it, I’ll put that down as both.” The Grand Master wrote down his new nickname. “Not the strangest of code names I’ve seen. It’s good though, nice and short, don’t have to spend a bunch of syllables on it. Alright your Highness, I think we’re done with the paperwork for now. I do however need to tell you that no one here is going to treat you like royalty, I’m not saying they’re going to be jerks, but I would like to keep the fact that we have an Imperan royal in the Watchers a secret between you and me. Is that alright?” “Yeah, yeah that works. I always found my title kinda… gaudy? Is that the right word? I felt like it put me above others unnecessarily, and I’m actually a little glad to get rid of it.” Coligius said, leaning back in his chair. “Excellent. I also need to tell you that you’re going to have an appointment tomorrow with our doctor, Hemlock. Just a physical exam so we can get an overview of your overall health, it also helps me figure out where to put you for training.” Vola said, picking something out of one of her desk drawers and sliding it across her desk to Coligius. “Here’s a key to your bunk room, all my soldiers are put into their barracks with their team- or at least the people they go on jobs with the most. Since you’re new, if you would like you can bunk with Delta and his goons instead of being alone, I told him he might have a new recruit bunking with his team while I got the recruit sorted into their permanent barracks.” “Thank you. Should I keep my hood up or..?” Coligius asked as he grabbed the key and tentatively reached to put his hood back up. “No, I wouldn’t worry about that. Most of my soldiers wouldn’t recognize you based on voice or looks, they’re mostly from outside the empire or been underground too long to know of the king’s attempted monarchy conversion. They do know; however, that the Dydal Empire’s prince was named Coligius and that he was executed earlier this evening.” Coligius’ brow furrowed slightly and he gently shook his head. Vola gave him a puzzled look. “I guess I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I’m essentially a dead man walking.” Coligius said. “It’s alright, I knew you would need a few days to recuperate and get settled so we will start your training within the next week.” The Grand Master stood and put out her hand. Coligius stood and shook it. “Welcome to the Silent Watchers, Prince Coligius Imperan- or should I say, Raze.”