1187/An Old Story

An Old Story
Date of Scene:	21 December 2014
Location:	Njorun Station - The Skygarden
Synopsis:	Amalthea and Landon meet in the skygarden for some contextual storytelling. Coffee probably ensued.
Cast of Characters:	395, 642

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Amalthea (395) has posed:
    Sun rises over the Skygarden in speckled splashes of light filtering through leaves. Though Amalthea had never specified where in the Skygarden to meet, the unicorn is impossible to miss. Nestled at the roots of small, but sturdy and proud tree by the edge of the great water basin is where she waits. As a knight it would be unbefitting to be without her sword, but it is sheated, set in the grass beside where she rests.
    It is a a good morning; a gentle start for the day ahead, and a perfect spot to catch a nap. Which is apparently what the unicorn has settled into by the time the prince should arrive. The skygarden is just as much a place to enjoy, as it is a place to enjoy a good conversation, which seems to be the reason why she had called him here, after all.

Landon al Cid (642) has posed:
     Prince Landon al Cid has not gone off Galianda very often. He's been to Priscilla's world through proxy - the bleak and terrible place that it is, he's been to Njorun Station's medical facility a few times, and he helped out the Time-Space Administration Bureau, but by and large, the Prince has mostly been confined to Galianda. This isn't by accident, either; as the heir of the Royal Family, he's extremely vulnerable to assassination attempts, not to mention the normal dangers of adventuring life. If he was to die, the line of succession would be thrown wildly out of balance.

     But Njorun isn't a terribly dangerous place, so it isn't hard to convince people to let him go. He arrives in the Skygarden with a small contingent of Judges in their heavy armor. They look around, casing the place and ensuring it's secure before Landon is permitted to sit down.

     He's a tall young man, strong in his shoulders, with a fair face and bright white hair. His eyes are a deep and clouded grey, taking in everything around him as he walks with both the practiced air of a fighter and the atmosphere of someone who has spent more of his life dodging assassins than he would care for. He carries no weapons, but he does wear what is most assuredly full plate mail in the colors of the al Cid family.

     He makes his way over to Amalthea and sits down, apparently not terribly hindered by his armor. He stifles a yawn, then smiles. "Good morning. Forgive me; I've been working on a project all night, and I hadn't found myself the time to sleep."

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    Lordran is a world Amalthea has grown to know well since her friendship with Priscilla began. The distant land where light is life, and that light slowly fades with every passing moment, forcing the beleagured undead to claw and fight one another in a desperate bid for Humanity, like moths drawn towards a flame. Thankfully Njorun is not that heartless, ruthless world where death is a horribly mundane occurrance.
    The unicorn stirs long before the prince sits, slender neck twitching at first before lifting her head with a small hissing vent of steam from the seams in the plating of neck and shoulder.
    And then she opens her eye.
    That is eye in the singular; considering the left side of her face is nothing but scar; a jagged raked line running along the entirety of the beast's slender snout. But that eye is endless; a deep and limitless blue of an eye that has seen centuries pass. She looks to the Judges, first, before her gaze crawls to the youthful prince; regal in his armor.
    "Good morning, yes." She returns the greeting. "I suppose you can tell your entourage to sit, if it fancies. This place should be safe. I'm going to admit something very rare, good prince. I think I've taken something of a shine to you. But that's an aside... I believe I had a story I would very much like to tell you, relevant to tonight's earlier conversation."

Landon al Cid (642) has posed:
     The Prince notices the scar immediately. He doesn't comment on it; he's much too polite to say such a thing. He's also much too polite to stare. It's given a glance, like the rest of the unicorn's features, and then he moves on from it, storing the thought away in the back of his mind. He's an accomplished politician, after all.

     The Judges do not sit, despite the offer; they continue to patrol about the garden, keeping a close eye on things. Landon looks to them for a moment, a smile on his face, then turns back to Amalthea.

     "I believe they intend to stand, for the moment. I might encourage them otherwise, but I doubt I could sway them. Normally, I would just have one Judge along, but I'm afraid she's busy with schoolwork right now."

     The Prince shifts a bit. "I...thank you, I suppose. I'm glad to know that my words didn't insult you."

     He stifles another yawn and waves his hand in front of his face apologetically. "Yes, I recall you mentioning such. Please, go ahead; I'm all ears, I assure you. And, if I yawn, pray do not mistake it for boredom. I find little as fascinating as the tales of the extraverse my world has been thrust into. Late nights are a toll all students must pay, I am quite convinced."

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    "Oh yes, I know the worries and tribulations of a student." The unicorn muses with something of an amused, tinkling, sound. "After all one of the new professors at your school is actually a student of mine and I admit a mild enjoyment in putting her through her paces. If you fall asleep I won't grudge it but I will dock points."
    That was a tease.
    Nevertheless, her head dips in a nod, every motion casting flitting bolts of sunlight off mithril plating. "Then they stand as they see fit. A good squad of guardians you have." But then the mithril mythic lets her eye slide back closed briefly. "Oh no. Like I said I wasn't insulted. Your care and the value you hold for your people and repurcussions of what they could have heard was rather admirable. I simply hope to give a context now for why I said what I said."
    One hoof scuffs at the grass, lightly pawing the roots of the young beech, before she sits up a little more properly. "This is an old tale, one older than I am, and even I lack the full context of, so I freely admit there are many spots where I know nothing, and may embellish a little. But it is the tale of a man named Karal Yat-sen."

Landon al Cid (642) has posed:
     "Of course. I'll endeavor to stay awake as best I can." Landon has no intention of falling asleep, after all.

     "Please, go ahead. Embellishments are part of telling stories, I'm told. I won't hold it against you."

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    Now then, a slow breath and the mithril mythic silences for a beat; as if searching for where to begin. In time she finds it, once again opening that endlessly deep blue eye. But her gaze is off into the distance across the lake rather than on the prince himself.
    "Once there was a man chosen by the Sun. He was strong, he was brave. As all the Sun's heroes were. But he was also cunning." She opens. "And sometime. I know not when. I know not how. Nor even if it was of his own choice at the time. He allied himself with the enemies of the one that chose him. But he had a plan."
    "He waited- perhaps for centuries- to enact it. But when he did, he made sure he was prepared. He had posed as a hero among other heroes. Gained their trust, their friendship and camaraderie, before using their very own giving nature against them." She murmurs. "He asked for one boon to do it all. And when came the time to put it to use, instead of eliminating the evil of his world, he used that gift to unleash it. He revealed himself for what he truly was, and the chaos that ensued afterwards was unfathomable."

Landon al Cid (642) has posed:
     "Mmm," Landon replies thoughtfully as he listens to the unicorn's tale, "So the man turned against you and used the power of your gift to do something terrible to the world. Or the multiverse."

     "Yes, that sounds very much like what I have heard of the Enemy, in the old tales."

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    A chuckle, and that eye once again finds way to the youth, before Amalthea's head bobs in a nod, rainbow mane tossing in the motion. "You catch on extremely quick. Yes." Comes her answer as she lays her head back down in the grass. "He grew in power; detached from those that he freed and became his own master. Which was, in a way worse than before. He took on a new name. The Emperor. And sought to take over the Multiverse. And he almost succeeded."
    Once more she takes a pause here, a small snort venting steam from nostrils. "I was blinded by my fury. I sought nothing more than to strike him down. At any cost, be it to my friends or to myself. When I was Young and New, I gave out Wishes with little thought to the consequence, it was what I had been -made- for, and I had been abused before. I left my week old daughter; just given life, to throw myself on a fool's mission. In the end, The Emperor fell, but it was not without great cost. For everyone involved."
    That seems to end it, at first before she ventures towards the true conclusion; "In death he taught the concept of Regret in all its painful entirety to a creature that had never known it before. And that, I suppose, ends that little tale. I do not mean to sound like the Enemy of which you speak when I give my Quests, but it's a means to a safeguard that is set in place to prevent that misuse once again, even if the request is from someone I would trust wholly and entirely. Because I never have anything to gain in giving out such things. In fact I always stand to lose the most."

Landon al Cid (642) has posed:
     Landon waits, patiently, until the unicorn has finished her tale. Then he shifts a bit.

     "The Enemy...I will not give it a name. To give it a name is to give it form and power, and that I will not do. But the Enemy is nothingness, nonexistence itself. And it has many followers."

     "All the stories of it are the same. Humes seduced to its dark power, promised all the wildest wishes they could desire, if they would but serve it and give to it what they held most dear to prove that they were worthy." Landon sits up, looking off to the side at something presumably far away.

     "We don't have many tales of wishing on Galianda for that reason. Wishes are a dangerous, dangerous thing that leads people to their own destruction, often taking others down with it. In the name of the Enemy that we cannot speak, whole nations have been brought to ruin." Landon closes his eyes.

     "It's true that the same words are a safeguard as well as a lure. I understand well why you would seek to keep the unworthy away from such a thing."

     "I appreciate you sharing your story with me. It cannot be an easy thing to think on or remember."

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    It is now that the unicorn tilts her head, an intrigued curiosity flickering in the depths of that lone eye on the subject of this Enemy that Landon has mentioned before. "I was meaning to ask of that, and you give me the answer I seek before I even get to it. But yes. Many tales of such things are cautionary ones aren't they."
    Another chuff and she paws the ground, before Amalthea slowly starts to pick herself up to stand. "One can wast their whole life away for all the wrong reasons. And send ripples with their very desires in ponds that should not be disturbed."
    "I like -my- pond very much undisturbed, thank you."
    Now she's up, a swish of lion-like tail, and... She flashes a grin. "You have a wisdom beyond your years, good prince. I would like to think you'll make a fine king when the time comes. But... For now... I believe you've been up all night. So how about I treat you to coffee for listening to an old beast's ramblings?"

Landon al Cid (642) has posed:
     "Ahaha...I would scarce turn down the offer. Fortunately, it's not a school day today, so I haven't much to worry about a schedule...although I might have lessons later in the day." Landon sighs and runs his fingers through his hair.

     "My father has always believed in making certain that his children were well-prepared for the world. A certain amount of wisdom was to be expected, and I learned at a young age that he was a man worth listening to. I know many people have problems with their parents, but..." Landon shrugs. "I admire my father greatly. My family's legacy is one of wisdom, power, courage, and mercy. I can do no less than strive to be worthy of that legacy."