Shadow Slayers

He sighed in relief, knowing that Luair didn't pry further into the circumstances surrounding the death of his parents. She wouldn't really be interested in a long-winding story about all the ridiculous events that transpired anyways.

His thoughts were interrupted by her grabbing onto his body as a form of comfort. He patted her head in response, comforted by her gesture.

"It's ok. I've learned to deal with it now, I guess," Osseus reassured with a meek smile. The statement was a flat-faced lie, since all he learned how to do was push it to the back of his mind. He only had that guy at the bar to thank for that skill, along with all of the other people he encountered in the past 2 years.

In this day and age, it was taboo to succumb to tragedy.

"That's right. Someday I'll plant him in a nice forest and grow a garden bigger and better than this one. It'll be a refuge for all plants and creatures of the forest..." Pinky stared into the distance with a sparkle in her eyes. It was the first thing she truly sounded passionate about. "And together we'll make a song so much happier than this one." she faltered suddenly, and looked between the three beside the tree. "But... none of you can hear the music, can you?"

The 'music' she referred to was not a literal song, but rather an additional sense that pixies had which enabled them to detect different waves emitted by plant life. She could pick out specific plants among the mass of 'noise', but more typically allowed the waves to harmonize. Among these floral symphonies was where her kind belonged, so the overwhelming sense of life was soothing to them. Anyone that did not have this sense would find it to be foreign and uncomfortable if they could suddenly somehow be exposed to it, so it was something Pinky could neither share nor explain to them in a way that was entirely accurate.

"Every plant has a song - every flower and tree and shrub and blade of grass... They all sing together." she said, motioning as best she could with her arms to convey the metaphor. She must have sounded insane. "Most people can't hear it..."

Zerah smiled a bit at this random act of kindness he had received. Most people in this guild seemed to dismiss or outright reject him whenever he tried making a connection with them, so it was heart warming to see there were genuinely kind people in this guild.

That is, unless she hates you and is just trying to save face.


Zerah frowned as the voice seemed to have awoken once more. Zerah brushed its comment aside and turned his head a bit towards the group.

"Thank you. It's nice to meet you Mimisko."

Zerah smiled at the knights wish. It seemed that even the worst people have ambitions and dreams, not unlike the imp himself. The music the figure spoke of was something Zerah had heard once before, as a child. The elder of the village would sit beneath the Lethlglyneros and speak of how it sung to each and every plant in the surrounding area. A song to beautiful for mere words to describe. Zerah used to listen to the man for hours, going on and on about nature and magic, and how although they seem inherently opposite from one another, everything in this world, even those that seem like polar opposites, are most definitely connected in some way. The imp smiled as he recalled the old man's teachings. Oh, how he yearned for those days where he could walk amongst his people and share the stories he had accumulated over his 400 years.

But alas, that dream would never come to fruition. Even the newborns of his village would surely be dead by now, whether of old age or disaster, not to mention his race could very well have been wiped out by fearen. He could very well be the last of his kind. The idea that his entire species could be just another folklore made his stomach churn with disgust. He quickly shook the idea off. Imps were crafty creatures. They must have found a way to survive these harsh times. They had to....

Zerah began to giggle as he played with the idea of being the new village elder and sharing all of his knowledge and wisdom with a village of fresh faces. Not that there was much wisdom to be shared. The fact of the matter is, the blood Zerah possesses has already taken its toll, and Zerah can barely remember his past at all, save for a few flashbacks here and there, or being remind of events that have long since transpired. The latest memory that he can remember clearly and vividly is the barbaric acts that the imp had been forced to take part in. Zerah placed his hand over his chest, feeling the mark's warmth, even through his layered clothing.

Mimisko smiled. While events of last night is lingering a bit, she does try her hardest to make sure that everything goes well for everyone in the guild. After all, there's one phrase Mimisko's told her.

"Mimisko... never cause problems within guild members...you'll never know what will happen if there is a huge problem..."

Mimisko overheard what Pinky said. That's a beautiful thing that a plant could have. A song.

Though, this does dishearten Mimisko a bit. After all, she couldn't hear the 'songs' herself.

"I'm a part of the majority that cannot hear it. Heheh... "

Mimisko did sounded a bit melancholy, though she does try to keep a smile on her face.

Manasa was set at ease seeing Zerah and Oxy come to their own conclusion together without her interference, hopefully growing closer and feeling less outcasted by their guild mates in the process. When the two had begun their journey back upstairs Manasa followed. As the vishkanyan trudged up the stone steps Zerah's words played back in her mind, forming pieces in a ever exspansive puzzle that Manasa had been trying to solve since she and Rylan met. Humans petrified and elves lit ablaze..that explained Rylan's ears and peculiar blood, yet his relation with Zerah was still much unknown to Manasa. By the was Zerah shouted, it seemed as if the priest had left him with nothing but the most unfavorable memories yet the Rylan Manasa knew was simply not like that. He was quiet and demure, nothing like how the imp presented him. Unless.,, Manasa thought back to the night Celty and Enoch had tried to force Rylan out of the guild, had things really been as they seemed? Did Manasa misjudge the situation and Rylan for that matter? No...

Manasa knew Rylan. She knew him to be kind and empathetic, if not reckless in his actions. Manasa grew to know Rylan better than any other member of the guild. No matter what happened, she vowed to keep her vision of him pure and untainted by what Zerah had to say.

Manasa was so enveloped in her thoughts she hardly noticed Oxy had beckoned for her to play with him. She snapped out of her daze, blinking several times and shaking her head before looking down at the small child and smiling. She walked over to the tiny shape shifted and took his hand, looking around the large room trying to think of an activity for the two before an idea struck. "Oxy, Do you want to go play with the books?" she asked, bending down to his eye level to speak to him as she did so. Reading picture books was a favorite hobby of hers as a child. Manasa thought of the days were she would hide scrolls under her clothes and then scurry off to an oasis on the outskirts of her tribe, copying the designs on the pages onto her skin with henna or onto a cloth with needle and thread.

The vishkanyan searched the castle a bit before finding a spectacular library. She hadn't even noticed Galystris' presence for her attention was brought swiftly towards a collection of books and scrolls with elaborate scrolling golden designs. "Look Oxy!" she said excitedly, practically running to the collection and pulling the nearest book. "These are about vishkanyans, people like me."

Oxy had giggled excitedly at the prospect of new toys to play with. As Manasa dragged him away, he waved at Ooro. "Or!" He shouted. "Come on! We're gonna look at books!" He was too enthused to wait and see if she would follow.

When they got into the library, he smiled brightly at Galystris and gave a short wave before Manasa's voice captured his attention once more. He scurried up to her and lightly touched the cover of the book Manasa was holding. "Vishy-ka-ya" It was the closest he could get to saying the tricky word. 

---

Clarissa wandered through the castle by herself for awhile, glad Celty had fallen asleep when she did and even more thrilled the toddler had stayed behind. She didn't know how long she had before the shifter woke again, but she wanted to take a look at this place while she had the chance. She was very interested in history, as she had been apart of many great events that never made it into the records, and she wanted to take everything in of the once powerful Tairaga's castle before his image was burned from the world. She made her way into a guest room, examining some small trinkets of gold and silver in an old jewelry box. She closed her hands around them, and when she opened them again they melded together into a strange looking sculpture of two doves, one of each metal, striking each other. It was oddly beautiful, though had an eerie atmosphere to it. She placed the two birds into a compartment in her hat before looking through some other drawers. It was then that she spotted herself in the mirror again, and she couldn't help but strike a pose and smirk.

"It really is strange to see these clothes on anyone else," she muttered, souring the moment for herself. She approached the mirror and held out a hand to it, curious about something. In all her years, she'd never managed to snag a shapeshifter for a vessel. She could be anything she wanted in this body...