Casting a Story

[Wyatt]

It was fairly late in the evening, and Wyatt was not asleep. He couldn't relax, he was just too wound up, and there was his job to do. Wyatt loved his job, he took pride in it. If their arms and armor were not in the best of condition, then they might get hurt. Thus it was his job to keep them in peek condition!

He had quit using the forge a bit ago so people could sleep, so now he was using a small set of pliers to round out the edges in Denzel's armor. It was so small that it was a little hard to work with, but Wyatt wasn't a blacksmith for no reason. He sat cross legged on the ground hunched over the armor as he continued the delicate work.

[Lilith]

Lilith had just resumed her normal breathing and opened her eyes. She loved meditating. For most shamans it was something that had to be done, a chore that could not be avoided. But for Lilith, it was a chance to relax from the day's work, a chance to reflect and be comfortable. She sat up on her mat and did a few stretches, unaware that it was late and most everyone was asleep. She stood up and noticed someone was still awake.

Before Wyatt knew it, Lilith had pranced over to him and sat down across from the armor he was working on. "Hi! It's nice of you to fix up Sir Denzel's armor! But should you be exerting yourself so much? How is your chest?" she asked cheerfully. Yes, Lilith was an all day person. Morning, day, night... She was always happy and chipper.

[Wyatt]

Wyatt looked up at the footsteps on the cobblestones, alert and listening. But when he heard Lilith's voice he relaxed back into his work. And now she sat on the other side of him, staring at his work like it was the most interesting thing in the world.

"Uh...yeah I'm just fixing it up. It's a light armor so he can wear it, but that means it's not as strong, which means it needs to be kept in excellent shape." He explained. "Oh I'm ok, it's a little sore but it's nothing I can't deal with." He said putting on a strong grin for her.

That was half true, it was sore, and he did feel tired. But he'd been pretty useless in the fight, and if it wasn't for Lilith he'd be dead. He needed to do something to be of use here.

"Besides, this is what I was raised to do, I enjoy doing it, much like you enjoy your...uh what did he call it...?" He seemed lost for a word as he stared at the armor absentmindedly.

"That concentrating thing you were doing earlier, I thought you'd fallen asleep, but Aaron said you were..uh...Med-somthing. I can't remember the word. Anyway it has something to do with your magic right? It's just the same for me, I enjoy practicing my skill."

He flashed her a smile as he continued rounding out the edges. "What are you doing up so late anyway?"

[Lilith]

Lilith smiled and answered, "I just finished my meditation and fancied a look around. I think I may retire soon, though. You should too. It's not good for you to stay up late after a battle. We may have to fight again tomorrow, we are in wild territory. Who knows, bandits who knew about the ones we routed may be on their way to claim this place form us right now!"

Lilith fumbled around in her cloak and pulled out her book. "On another note... Yes, meditation has to do with my magic." she held the book out to Wyatt. "Touch it. Feel the slight vibrations? The raw power of Elder Magic radiated into the physical world without help from shamans. It is meditation that helps we shamans from being lost to the magic.

"It is a very ancient and complex magic we weave, and the smallest misstep may be disastrous to us. That is why we meditate. Its helps to keep us sane, to remind us we are human. We set aside our books of power and relax. We breath slowly, and let go of our emotions, for emotions are usually what makes shamans cause the small mistake that cost them their essence... the soul, to the magic." she spoke much unlike she normally would... She had seen a novice shaman lose himself to the magic he had tried to wield.

In a happier voice, she piped, "it might help you too! Try meditating after a battle, you may find that it calms you down and helps you cope with what you have seen!"

[Wyatt]

Listened to Lilith talk, and his hands froze as she described the terrifying magic. The pliers he was using to adjust the armor nearly fell from his grasp, so shocked he was. She said it so simply, so cleanly, as if it was all just a game...

"L-Losing themselves to the magic? You mean it's alive? It can think and act on it's own?" He couldn't wrap his head around what she was telling him, using a magic that consumed peoples souls? Maybe this 'Elder Magic' really was evil, he couldn't imagine anything that had that kind of potential ever being something 'good'.

"But...how?" He drew closer to the normal looking book, but did not dare touch it. "How can just a book...do that much? I mean I know stories, mages with books create great fires and blasts of light and shadowy terrors, but to fall victim to the same weapon you use, to have it claim you even if you aren't fighting anyone...how...is that even possible?"

A martial mind is ill suited to grasping the finer points of magic, it would seem.

On the plus side, he understood what she meant by meditation now. She relaxed, calmed herself, that made sense. A lot of people did it.

[Lilith]

Lilith sighed. "Elder Magic... it is nothing. Like how Anima is based in nature, and Light finds itself in the faithful... Elder magic is nothingness. Like darkness in the absence of light, it is there. If someone not learned in controlling it tries to use magic to advanced for him or her, they are taken into nothing.

"But enough of this dreary talk. You seem to be getting better at swinging your axe. What is it like to have a weapon that you have full control over, a weapon that poses no threat toy your mind?!" She ginned and put the tome down.

[Wyatt]

Wyatt felt as if the darkness of this tome was choking out the light of the fire, like things in here got cold and damp. And then, all of a sudden, light again.

"Heh, yeah I think I've been getting better, but I've still got a long way to go." When she mentioned having full control over it, he had to think for a moment. "I don't have full control, not yet. I mean, it takes time to learn how much force to apply, and how to swing, and how to stand and all the little things in combat that can change the entire outcome in a second. And it might not pose a threat to my mind, but...hmmm" How could he put it?

"If you don't respect it, you'll die. Lot'sa people go out and think they can make good with just some skills and ride on their luck. Might work for a bit, but a mediocre swordsman when his luck runs out is just a corpse. You gotta know what it can do, what it can't do, and how to work with it. It's like...I might be able to take on Selk with my axe, if I got lucky, but Denzel schools me every time. Same weapon, similar styles of fighting, but Denzel has had more time to get used to his, so he knows what he can do better. I think it's just like what you said, if you bite off more then you can chew, it bites back."

What grim talk to teenagers were having, this was a disturbing choice of conversation!

"Um, so you said you were from Erturia right? What's it like up there now? I only heard information from the occasional bard troupe passing through home, and didn't have enough time to hear anything in Laus."

[Lilith]

Lilith nodded, oohed and aahed in all the appropriate places during Wyatt's talk. "So... fighting with physical weapons isn't too much different than fighting with mental ones!

When he brought up Erturia, she smiled again. "The area I lived was great. We had many good harvests and there was little strife But when I went to the capitol for training, just after the Hero's War, things were not as I had heard them to be. There was a lot of corruption in the nobles... I'm not sure how long it will be until war breaks out even more. That's why I left. I was done with the clergy's corrupt teachings. I wanted to come here.

"Is rural Lycia very much different from Erturia? Have you ever been to Valor Isle? It's close to Lycia, right?" she asked her questions with much enthusiasm even though it was common knowledge that no one ever went to The Dread Isle.

[Wyatt]

Corruption. A corrupt cler-something...that meant church right? Even where he was from he'd heard about how religious fanatics in Erturia were causing all sorts of trouble, but this was the first time he'd count it as more then rumors. And she suggested that war may be close, that was not a good thing.

"You really think it'll go so far as to mean war? But I thought the religion of Erturia were the teachings of St. Elimine, we have those even in the chapels near my home. The books have to be generations old, they are a part of our heritage. How could belief in that bring war?"

He fileded her questions though, as was only polite.

"I'd imagine so, I mean Laus is huge, I'd never seen so many people in one spot. My hometown has...maybe fifty people or so, it's a pretty small community. It's all the family business there. I'm a smith because my father was, and his father, and so on. It fills the need of the town. It's the same with everyone, the carpenters, farmers and anyone else. Sort of a stagnating life style. Though I suppose with my leaving, someone will have to take up the job as the apprentice smith, there are enough able bodied guy for that though."

At her mention of Valor though, he blinked twice.

"Valor Isle? I've never heard of a place like that. Would make sense I guess, I'm kind of land locked, I've never even seen the sea, and we don't get visitors from it passing through our neck of the woods very often. Why, what is this island your talking about?"

[Lilith]

Lilith smiled tiredly. "Valor Isle is known as The Dread Isle. I've read about it in tomes... Legends say it is where the dragons left our world to find a new, humans-less one. Ever since I've known about it, I've wanted to go there."

Lilith tried to stifle a yawn, but it escaped anyway. "Well, Thank you for talking with me. I'm sorry if I interrupted your forging. I'll see you in the morning them? Good night." she smiled and got up. With a small wave she left away into a small room to sleep.

[Wyatt]

Wyatt blinked twice at the legend of dragons, and how she wanted to go there. Before he could fathom a response, she got up and walked off, going back to sleep.

"Ah, night." Wyatt got out at her retreating form.

After she had retired he mumbled to himself. "Why'd she walk off so fast, did I offend her or something?" Until he noticed that he had pinched part of the metal on the armor in his distraction. Sighing he grabbed his tools and worked on quietly fixing the error.