Via Umbrae

[Falcon2001]

This is a collaborative piece between Yui-Chan and Falcon2k1, bringing together two very different characters with very similar powers.

 

 

 

The dark edges of reality blurred a little as Cioden walked by them - the other-realm, the reversed side of our plane. Dark and empty, the shadowrealm is the dark, mirrored image of the planes. It's cold, empty flatness is inhabited by very little, and few would want access to this demi-plane - few of course, but for those for whom power is not an option, but a need.

 

Cioden was one of a rare breed - those who are able to traverse the shadowed, dark realm that is the Shadowplane. They typically never realize their potential, and thus the knowledge of the Plane of Shadows is typically limited and too scattered about to make any sense.

 

For most it was inborn, but for Cioden it was a prize that was earned through battle and conflict. The power that surged through him, allowing both for his entry into the plane and for his subsequent survival within the turbulent environs was power stolen from another, whereas most Shadowmages use it innately, without realizing what they are really doing.

 

Cioden's footsteps echoed through the dark paths with a hollow noise. Sound carried strangely in this plane, sometimes, making it hard to tell if you were being tracked sometimes.

 

Cioden stopped in the midst of a small village, populated with slightly unfocused houses and the scattered remains of humanity. The faint outlines of humanity going about their daily business was all the life that existed in this town...but Cioden was uneasy.

 

He almost took a step forward, then shifted his weight back and cast a spell. A hissing noise came from his left, and was immediately followed by a roiling ball of greenish acid spearing it's way right through where he was going to step. Green lightning bolts leapt from his fingers towards the source of the ambush, and he immediately drew Nightshade from it's dark scabbard for use.

 

The missles bounced pitifully off of a magical shield, and then there was a wavering in the air as an invisibility spell was dispelled. Cioden was hardpressed to remember ever seeing anything remotely like what was left when the spell finally dissapated completely.

 

Tall and pearly white from head to toe, the creature stared at Cioden blankly with overly large, blue eyes that were set into a head with no recognizable nose, mouth or any other olfactory organ. Hairless and smooth all over, the creature was either asexual or extremely adrogynous, at least as far as Cioden could tell. Vaguely humanoid, it sported two extra arms sprouting from the back and reaching over the shoulders.

 

KILL the thought came without heed or warning, and Cioden instantly noted the telapathic power that appeared to be the creature's only means of communication. CIODEN - KILL it thought-sent at him, then attacked, weaving multiple spells at once with it's multiple arms.

 

Cioden sent a spiral beam of lightning bolting towards it, but suddenly it dissapeared. Taken slightly aback, he prepared to cast another spell, but suddenly had to run as a veritable barrage of small blue missiles hurtled at him. Nimbly dodging most of them, he threw up a shield against the few left. The shield sprung into life - then suddenly evaporated, leaving Cioden suddenly, violently unprotected. Eight missiles slammed into his torso, sending the mage skittering along the ground to crash into an insubstantial hut.

 

Bounding to his feet, he swore and then lanced out with a beam of white-hot magical energy. Without stopping to see if it worked, he invoked one of the many runes he had imbued into his cloak and fired off two fireballs in quick succession, then teleported away. He felt the familiar tug in a direction he couldnt' describe, but then the spell completely dissappeared, as did all the attack spells that he had cast at the pearly white monster.

 

He felt an odd sensation deep in his gut and realized it was terror. He pushed it aside and rushed at the creature with Nightshade. The creature quickly lashed out with a long, white tail, almost tripping the mage. Cioden leapt the tail and slashed downwards, only to find himself cutting into nothing. It had shifted behind him and grabbed his arm, forcing it down and back, applying pressure. He felt a sudden pain as his shoulder dislocated, and he fought against the sudden onrush of blackness.

 

There was a sharp pain in the back of his head, and suddenly the dark flood rose up and overwhelmed him in their terrible embrace.

[Yui-chan]

The stairs to the Elder tower were quiet except for the soft rustle of fabric and the rhythmic tap of leather-soled boots on the stone steps. The sound bounced lazily around the circular stairwell, dancing among the dust motes that swirled in the thick rays of sunlight and then returning to be swallowed up in the dark fabric that draped its source. On other days, Yui-chan had actually been amused to feel the tickle of the echoes within the Tower, but today she was preoccupied with heavy thoughts and a burgeoning headache. The young woman sighed and rubbed her temple in an attempt to stave off the inevitable.

 

"Someone's taking her job too seriously," she mumbled to herself, setting her hand against the brass plate that spanned the seam between the two halves of the oaken door. The wards glowed gently in recognition, and her hand slipped through the seemingly-solid wood, followed shortly by the rest of her.

 

The Huntress paused in the hallway on the other side and turned around to the still-closed door, tapping it once to make sure that the material had resolidified. It felt like nothing more than wood, and for about the fiftieth time, she shook her head in wonder at the trick. She had yet to quite determine what manner of magic allowed the door to become insubstantial like that.

 

A mystery for another time, she reminded herself, pulling her cowl up and over her blonde hair. Right now, it's time to get back to the matters at hand. The shadow Elder ticked off the list of resources she'd need on her fingers, mentally running through the elements required for the documents Ozymandias had asked her to write up. Nearly everything was in the Pen's library, which meant a quick trip across the courtyard and about three hundred more steps than were strictly necessary.

 

A statue in a small alcove provided the shadow needed to shorten that distance, and Yui-chan stepped into the darkness with instinctive ease and no small amount of relief. The nonplace on the other side of the shadows was a comfort to her for some reason, like a warm, safe haven against the harshness of the light, against the scrutiny and judgment that came along with being exposed. There was no one in the empty shadows, no one who could see or hear her, who could watch her in the unguarded moments when she was uncertain or afraid or imperfect.

 

Or headachy, she smirked, pausing in the shadowplane for a calming breath and an attempt to relax away the pain that was blooming behind her eye. She tried not to reflect in general on her feelings of insecurity, on her irrational fear of being judged - perhaps of being fully seen, but it certainly had to do with the parts of herself that she didn't like much. ... and maybe it was also related to the fact that she was just a perfectionist.

 

With a roll of her eyes, the shadowwalker shifted her thoughts to the step sideways that would bring her out into the library. She had almost lifted her foot when she heard it - a sound that wasn't a sound, an echo of thought in the emptiness.

 

KILL. CIODEN-KILL.

 

Yui paused, blinking. Cioden? That was William Azunost's friend, a rather angry character that she'd seen once or twice around the Pen. She knew almost nothing about him, save the fact that he didn't make many appearances, but the fact that he was William and Falcon's acquaintance meant that she could not ignore whatever she had heard.

 

The Huntress turned away from the shadowrift to the library and did something she had never really tried before. She turned her attention to the empty darkness and searched, scanning what should have been nothing with first mortal, then supernatural senses. There were the usual specters and echoes that sometimes wafted across her path when she was traveling between places, things she saw on the rare occasion but never understood to be anything more than reflections of things that existed in the light realm. A floating corner of a building hovered a handful of 'steps' away. A fountain statue's face blurred in and out of existence further away. To her right, an unclear figure that could have been a human wandered in the darkness, oblivious to her presence. She frowned, squinting as she searched harder.

 

There! A moving light appeared for an instant on her left, and she concentrated her attention on that spot, daring to take a tentative step into the darkness. Nothingness frustrated her for a moment, but then there were more flashes, white light followed by red. Yui was shocked by the incongruity of it all. The shadow realm was empty and defined by darkness. Was light even possible in such a place? It struck her how very little she knew about the non-pace she loved...

 

Argh! The shout was an echo of pain in the darkness, and the Huntress gasped at the familiar timbre of the voice. It was Cioden, undoubtedly, but where was he? Was it an echo of something happening in the light realm? She surged into motion, focusing on thoughts of his face as she let her instincts guide her.

 

Cioden.

 

His ghost-image appeared in the near distance, burns on his chest smoldering and his eyes wide with pain. Even as she watched, a white form became visible behind him, an indistinct thing with a long tail and spare arms that bent up and over its shoulders. It held his arm at an unhealthy angle against his back with one pair of hands, while the other pair reached for the back of his unprotected head. The creature's thumbs pressed against the base of his skull, glowing with blue energy, and he arched back with an abortive cry. Yui gasped as Cioden slumped forward in his enemy's pearl-white arms, his hair falling across his face

 

Stop! she shouted, earning the attention of the ghostly attacker. It fixed huge, impossibly-blue eyes on her, squinting as if she were every bit as translucent as it was. The Huntress stepped forward, knowing that she needed to do something, but uncertain just what she could accomplish in a situation she didn't understand. It couldn't harm her, of course, but she wasn't entirely certain she could harm it either.

 

It released the other Pennite, letting his limp body fall, and turned towards her, its four arms weaving together to cast magic missile and another that she didn't recognize. The young woman watched, fascinated, as the bursts of blue energy detached themselves from its fingers, cutting the darkness like luminous blades as they flew towards her heart. There was no reason to dodge, nor anything more than a slight tingle as they passed through her chest and out her back, disappearing into the emptiness. She couldn't help but grin at the surprise on the caster's insubstantial face.

 

Its thought-voice reverberated through the shadows, more perceptions than words. Impossible. Fall! Kill phantom!

 

I'm sorry to have disappointed you, Yui shrugged, closing the last step between herself and Cioden's unconscious ghost-form. He was breathing evenly, but his shoulder bulged in ways it shouldn't have, and she had no way of gauging what the creature had done with its strange blow to the back of his head. She leaned down and reached out to him, putting her hand on his uninjured shoulder. With a wrench that made her stomach drop, she yanked him out of whatever place he'd been and into her place-between-places, feeling relieved as his form became just as solid as hers.

 

NO! KILL CIODEN! the white form screeched, swinging a clawed hand at her. The Huntress shied away instinctively, turning her face away. There was a strange pressure as its intangible body passed through her but nothing else, and she could see rage in its eyes when it landed in a heap a few paces away. It seemed to be a good time to leave.

 

Yui leaned down behind Cioden and carefully thread her arms around his chest, concentrating on the Pen's infirmary. A shadow cast against the wall answered her call, and she tugged on it, pulling open the boundary between reality and the darkness. Ever wary of his injured shoulder, she dragged her peer through and closed the doorway behind them, ignoring the enraged screams that echoed in the dark.

[Falcon2001]

Pain.

 

Cioden sat up abruptly, stifling a course scream. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead, and he was momentarily disoriented. He was lying in a bed somewhere, with a single blanket pulled over him. He was shirtless and there were scars on his chest he didn't recognize. When he tried to remove the blanket, he realized that his arm wasn't responding right. When he looked, he realized it was dislocated, and the memories of his encounter with the strange creature in the shadowplane suddenly leapt to the forefront of his mind.

 

"What the hell was that thing?" he asked himself, mentally flashing back over the fight. Somehow it had not only rendered his attack magic useless, but also his teleport spell. How he had somehow ended up wherever he was, he had no clue, but he had a sneaking suspicion that the blue-eyed monster hadn't been the one to move him. As he mused over the possible meanings of such information, he felt someone approach.

 

"You're awake." the voice was soft and sleek, and when he looked up he was not at all surprised to see Yui standing at the entrance to the room. Her gaze was worried, and suddenly Cioden felt his anger rise again. He kept quiet as she walked in with a loaf of bread and some cheese, setting it on a table near the bed and then looking at him. She met his gaze, but backed up a bit after seeing his glare.

 

"Why did you bring me back here?" Cioden asked, eyes burning slightly.

 

"I...found you - I suppose that's the best term for it - while I was 'Walking. Some big white monster had you, but I must have distracted it or something. I couldn't just leave you there, so I shifted to the infirmary." She seemed to be waiting for some sort of agreement, but Cioden looked away.

 

"You could have. And you should have."

 

"What do you mean?" she asked, incredulous.

 

"I don't need your help!" he yelled, the anger flaring up again. He put his weight on his bad arm and fell out of bed, landing with a curse and a scream that was cut off by sheer willpower. Blood oozed out of the wound on his chest as the scar ripped. Yui jumped forward. "Don't come any closer!" Cioden said, staring at the floor and breathing heavily. Yui stopped and backed up a few steps.

 

Cioden laid there for the space of a few breaths, then slowly, raised himself up with his good arm, bit by bit. Soon he was standing, teetering a bit, but still managing to stay up. By now his chest was smeared with blood, and the floor was slick from where he had landed. Starting directly into Yui's eyes, he reached over with his good arm and grabbed his dislocated shoulder. He shut his eyes and jerked the shoulder back into place.

 

There was a popping noise, dull and slightly muffled, and he screamed again, but he managed to stay standing. Yui gasped, but restrained herself from helping him.

 

Cioden teetered slightly. His eyes were bloodshot and he was breathing heavily, but there was a deadly grin on his face, and his eyes shone with the fruits of his labors.

 

"I don't need your help. I could have handled that monster, given enough time." Now he was at ease, the anger settling to a dull, cold roar. He took a hesitant step, then walked out past her, leaving the food behind.

 

Yui stood for a moment, then turned to leave by shadow. She hesistated before 'Walking though, and left by door instead.

 

The bread sat untouched.

[Falcon2001]

The setting sun shone through the giant windows of the second floor of the Mighty Pen Library. This floor, devoted to research in all it's myriad forms, was filled to the brim with tomes of dusty knowledge and forgetten thoughts. Ornate chandeliers filled with waxy candles filled the hall with more than enough light, and various Pen Members strolled leisurely from one place to another, sometimes making time just to stop in and feel the atmosphere.

 

A pile of dusty scrolls marked Cioden's location like a beacon, but anyone who veered near to inquire as to his course of study was fairly quickly shooed off by the palpable aura of frustration and annoyance.

 

Eventually he gave a growl of frustration and swept the scroll he had been reading to one side. "What in the nine hells was that thing?" He swore, glaring at the pile of scrolls. He had been searching through the Pen's bestiary archive for nigh on two days now, stopping only to sleep - for the last day he had a headache pounding through his head like a frost giant. The librarian brought him meat and potatoes and Cioden would eat absently, poring over the various scrolls on monsters and magicks.

 

"I've been over every scroll even vaguely related to extraplanar beings, and nothing has even come close to a description of that...that - thing!" Cioden swore again and collapsed back into his head, staring at the ceiling intently.

 

The anger was flaring up again, and Cioden fought to keep it in control. He suddenly realized how weak he was feeling, and reached for the nearest plate with food on it, digging in with a fervor he didn't know he still had in him. While he ate, he continued to mull the problem over in his head.

 

Hmm...the creature is an unknown variety or species, and it certainly resembles nothing I've ever seen before. The magicks it used were certainly mundane enough - nothing out of the ordinary. But how it managed to disrupt my magic is quite unique, I've never seen anything of that style before. He finished chewing and swallowed, feeling a bit of warmth spread throughout him. He sighed and stood, leaving the scrolls where they were.

 

A problem that I'm sure will wait for tomorrow.

 

Cioden turned on a heel and strode out of the library, jerking his cloak back over his head abruptly. He passed a cloaked figure that idly looked him over as he walked out. A faint smile cut through the shadows of the cloak.

 

Yui drew the cowl back and walked over to the table, idly sifting through the scrolls. "So even he was vexed...interesting." Setting the scrolls up neatly, she also left, through a different entrance.

 

The dying light of the sun finally gave up the fight against the darkness, and the sky slowly burned to black.

Edited November 25, 2003 by Falcon2001

[Yui-chan]

By midnight, the library was like a tomb, utterly silent and so still that it felt as if time had frozen solid in the dusty spaces between the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. Most people found it an alarming time to visit, but to the self-proclaimed keeper of the library, those peaceful hours of the deep night were the best. A flickering candle and a few hours of solitude often combined to form the solution to whatever challenge she was facing.

 

However, as Yui pushed her way through the sturdy doors, she didn't have much faith that the darkened aisles and walls of books could help her. She'd already watched Cioden fervently pore over the resources available in the public section, and after last night's thorough search of the Ward Room, she was convinced that the ghostly creature within the shadows was not yet in any book. If its record didn't exist in the Pen's massive collection, it most likely didn't exist anywhere.

 

No, instead she had come to her favorite place in the Keep merely to think, to ponder the angry puzzle that was Cioden as well as the strange incident on the other side of the shadows. It wasn't every day that a man shouted at her for saving his life or claimed (foolishly) that he could have beaten a creature that had him unconscious and utterly at its mercy. It was pretty hard to mistake the blue-eyed thing's intent, given its fondness of 'shouting' KILL CIODEN. Yui smirked and shook her head. There was stubborn pride, and then there was ridiculously self-destructive pig-headedness. Cioden certainly was tending towards the latter, lately, but she knew that answers lay in the 'why' of it. She most certainly didn't know the dark mage well enough to even guess at what hid behind his irrational actions.

 

The Huntress played with a lock of long hair that had slipped free of the loose coil she'd tied at the base of her neck, considering whether she could ask William Azunost about his friend's actions without pricking that massive pride. The nature of their acquaintance wasn't all that clear to her, though, and she felt certain that if it wasn't a bond of absolute brotherhood, anything she said to William would get her speared with Cioden's hateful glare again. While his raging eyes hadn't quite drawn blood in the infirmary, she'd found his anger just unsettling enough that she wasn't eager to face it again.

 

No, she thought, shaking her head as she wandered over to the sitting area under the darkened stained-glass window, if I want to understand Cioden better, then I'll have to go about it the traditional way. I'll have to speak to him, get to know him if he'll let me.

 

The little woman sighed at that, plopping down into one of the understuffed wing chairs. She wasn't comfortable with the idea of trying to approach someone who worked very hard to stay unapproachable, but she had tried to forget what had happened on the other side of the shadows for two days with no luck. She didn't understand what she'd seen... and not seen, and the questions were plaguing her. The sensation of opening a shadow rift and pulling someone through was very familiar to her, and yet when she'd touched Cioden and made him solid, it had felt utterly different. She hadn't needed a shadow to form the link, hadn't felt the pressure of the light that bound her portal. Yui-chan frowned and pondered what those details meant, but she couldn't come up with an explanation that made sense to her.

 

Finding some answers was going to require talking to Cioden, but after seeing his fevered eyes earlier in the evening, she knew that simply walking up and holding a conversation was out of the question. He had been like a caged beast while he'd been researching, snapping viciously at anyone who dared to interfere with his search for information on his alien assailant. The young woman considered herself thick-skinned enough to handle his ire, but she didn't want to have to ask her questions in that kind of environment. Rage and distraction make poor conductors for information.

 

"What I need," she muttered, "is a bit of bait to dangle before Cioden-san. Trade seems more his style."

 

Yui nodded to herself, reflecting on just what she could offer him. She certainly hadn't had any more luck in the library than he had, but perhaps her advantage lay in the fact that she could get close to the ghost-creature without being vulnerable to it. There was no need for book information if she could bring him first-hand facts about the object of his obsession. It was a realization that had her grinning at nothing, because it was foolproof and so well-suited to the man she wanted to deal with. Kindness wasn't a motivation he understood, but she felt certain he'd be more comfortable with a little bit of barter.

 

Decision made, the young human stood and stretched, pulling the cowl of her ebon cloak over her golden-blond hair. She had no need for a weapon, so she left her dagger in its sheath and turned towards the far wall, where a deep shadow beckoned with the promise of a trip through the quiet non-place on its other side. Yui smiled fondly at the whisper of it in the back of her mind and answered with her power, opening the portal that she could feel there. She disappeared through it with nothing more than a step and a quick flip of her cloak.

[Yui-chan]

((Note: Falcon, I changed the ending of this just slightly from what I showed you last night, so be sure to reread the last few paragraphs. ))

 

Three hours later, the Huntress was beginning to realize her mistake. She sat in the empty place on the back side of the shadows, her hands folded in her lap, her head aching abominably from her futile attempts to call out to the creature that had attacked Cioden. For all her effort, she hadn't had a single hint that anyone had heard her, and she was beginning to doubt that whatever link might have existed between her shadow plane and the site of Cioden's battle still existed. Perhaps it had been created by the creature, or perhaps it had been a fluke or a hiccup that had been just lucky enough to save the dark mage's life. She sighed to herself, a futile exercise in the soundless shadows. It was time to give up.

 

Unfolding her legs, the young woman rose and stretched, straightening her twisted cloak until it settled down against her shoulders. She was just about to turn and leave when she felt a strange, sudden blast of cold against her back. Blue-white light erupted from the front of her chest, startling her, but as it sped away into the darkness, she realized that it looked only half tangible, another phantom.

 

Yui spun around, not particularly surprised to find the tall, four-armed creature standing a few paces behind her, its great, blue eyes narrowed in rage. Its form was dim and blurry, like an image seen through fogged glass, and as she stared, bits of it would shift in and out of focus dizzyingly. It looked as though it were twitching its tail back and forth in annoyance, but she couldn't be certain that it wasn't just a side-effect of the unstable form.

 

Cioden thief. Not-being. DIE! Its words were ugly with rage and frustration, and its four hands blurred in the darkness, weaving a spell with incomparable speed. Before the human could even identify what it was casting, the energy erupted from its palms, a wall of dimmed flame engulfing her. It tickled slightly, tingling against her skin in a way that made her want to scratch at her arms to ease the sensation away, but she stood there for long moments, completely unharmed as the soundless fire roared around her and in her and through her. Yui even smiled slightly, awed by the beauty of the ever-dancing fire. It brought to mind thoughts of Merelas en'Bella and his tales of dancing in the bonfires of his fire-elven village.

 

An enraged scream recalled her attention to the moment, prompting the woman to step out of the intangible flames. She faced the strange, pearly-skinned being once more, staring up at its nearly-featureless face.

 

I will not die. You cannot touch me, and I have no intention of touching you.

 

The response to her calm rationality was a sudden cessation of the Blaze spell, and a shouted BRING CIODEN!

 

Yui shook her head, watching it impassively as it shook all four fists at her. Why do you want him? What are you?

 

Cioden's power calls. Master of Shadowplace must have all power. It thumped its albino chest, jutting its chin out proudly. Whatever race it was, it clearly was the 'Master of Shadowplace'. Not-being will obey. Not-being will bring CIODEN!

 

When the creature suddenly leaned forward, fixing her eyes with its own, the Huntress felt a chill skitter down her back, recognizing a danger she hadn't foreseen. Those huge, oh-so-blue eyes glowed softly with power, drawing her attention deeper and deeper as it quietly wrapped tendrils of will around her own. She was being mesmerized.

 

No! Yui gasped, ripping her gaze away from the creature's milk-white face. Her heart skidded wildly in her chest, and she pressed a hand over it as if she could still it with her palm, sucking in a few steadying breaths. In all her Ages of existence, she had never been so nearly or so easily caught.

 

No... she repeated, this time with more conviction and less panic. No, I will not bring Cioden to you. You may not have him.

 

Rrrrargh! It didn't speak so much as to blast her with rage, swinging at her face with its clawed arm. She felt the pressure of its blow more keenly this time, grimacing as a slight sting on her cheek had her stepping back, eyes wide. The creature dimmed slightly in her vision, as if the distance had obscured it with more of the fog of shadows.

 

WILL have Cioden! WILL have not-being! It spun, and its tail swung out of the darkness, swiping harmlessly through her side before she could do more than blink in surprise. Though she didn't understand what was going on, the renewal of its complete intangibility restored her confidence and her determination.

 

What created you, oh vicious Master of the Shadowplace? The Huntress straightened, raising her chin stubbornly. She watched the creature through narrowed eyes, careful never to linger on its hypnotizing gaze. What is your race?

 

Master is OF the insipid light. Antithesis. Destroyer. Ruler. Master will be ULTIMATE. Though she wasn't sure it was possible without a mouth or eyebrows, she would have sworn that it drew itself up proudly and offered her a darkling smile. Maliciousness rolled off of it in waves, and despite the crudity of the words she could glean from it, the being was obviously far from brutish. There was intelligence in the way it had tried to ambush her and in the powerful will behind those huge, round eyes, though she suspected that its temper often dulled the rest of its mind.

 

Yui decided to test her theory with a little prick. Ah, but Cioden is ultimate.

 

NEVER! it roared, lunging at her once more. She smirked a bit from the cover of her cowl, watching the light of its eyes dim as its anger unraveled a bit of its reason. Yes, that would be a weakness to exploit if necessary. It reminded her a bit of a dragon or an elemental...

 

That thought stuck in her head and clicked as she turned to watch the lanky creature recover from its futile attempt to attack her. An elemental... of light? Did they exist? Perhaps, like a dragon, it was an elemental in the form of an animal... or in this case, a twisted human. It could even have been a human at one point, and perhaps been twisted by some elemental magic... Possibilities whirled through her head as her eyes followed it to its man-like feet.

 

Tell me about your kingdom, Master of the Shadowplace, the young woman inquired on a whim.

 

It blinked at her for a moment, then narrowed its eyes, trying to gauge her intent with the question. Apparently, its rage was as fast to fade as it was to flare - another point to keep in mind. All four of its arms spread wide, and it made a grand gesture, encompassing the entirety of the black nothing that was around them. ALL is mine. YOU dance boundaries, but those, too, will be MINE. Not-being will be mine. Cioden will be mine. POWER will be mine.

 

Yui winced under the weight of its mirthless laughter, then, the sound assaulting her already-pounding head. Despite the fact that it had no mouth, that there was no sound, it threw its head back in an all-too-human gesture, its malicious thoughts booming through the emptiness. She dared a glance at its eyes, and they were laughing at her, mocking her, threatening her; and she knew that she'd get nothing more from the self-proclaimed Master. It would take some thought to puzzle out its cryptic words, but for that, she needed to go home, get away from a haven that was no longer fully safe. What little she had learned would give her the bargaining chip she needed to break the ice with Cioden.

 

Backing away from the ghost-creature, the Huntress fumbled almost blindly for a shadow that would take her back to the light side, desperate to get away from the choking 'volume' of its mirth. She wrapped her talent around the first to answer, nudging it into a portal, and then stepped through, letting it snap shut behind her with great relief.

 

Exhaustion bowed Yui's shoulders as she glanced at the night-dark corridor around her. She didn't recognize the architecture or the decorations, but with the relative silence, she was too relieved to care. The oppressive laughter of the creature had fallen away, and so she took a moment to lean her back against a grey-stone wall and let herself sink to the smooth, marble floor. All she needed was a moment to rest and try to relax away some of the headache behind her temple.

 

If the Huntress had been tired before her encounter with the ghost-creature, now she felt absolutely drained, as if just being around the thing had sucked what little energy was left right out of her body. Undoubtedly, it was the mixed result of staying on the other side of the shadows for too long and exerting herself during their brief conversation, but she noted the reaction clinically, adding another fact to the all-too-short list of what she knew about the shadows and their effect on her. Her eyelids drooped, and she rubbed her hands over her face, stifling a yawn.

 

The sudden sting on her cheek startled her, prompting her to pull her hand back and stare in some confusion at a thin streak of blood marring her palm. Green eyes widening in the darkness, she touched her face again gingerly, feeling along the shallow cut that sliced across her cheekbone and halfway down to her mouth. A frissure of alarm skittered down her spine. Clearly, she wasn't quite as entirely impervious to the ghosts in the shadows as she thought. It was a realization that drew a deep furrow between her eyes and made her head pound all the harder.

 

"Ugh." Yui muttered aloud into the empty hallway, resting her head back against the wall behind her. She'd ponder the implications later, more concerned at the moment with stealing a few moments to rest and recover her energies before she left this unknown place. It most definitely would not do to linger too long in someone else's hallway.

 

The small woman relaxed against the wall with the intention of staying only a moment, however, thirty seconds later, she slipped sideways to rest against a beam that jutted out from the wall, already fast asleep.

[Falcon2001]

Corridors unknown and unremembered run underneath the keep. The passages were, once you ran deep enough, nothing more than rough-hewn passages cut into the dark stone. Cioden treaded these dank, unlit passages angrily today, his footsteps echoing harshly off the dry walls.

 

As he stormed down the corridor, he privately mulled over the monster's identify for the nth time that day - though really he had never stopped thinking about it. Cioden was tenacious beyond belief - he never let go of something until he had gotten it out of his way.

 

This matter, however, had firmly planted itself in his way and wasn't moving.

 

Cioden irately swung open the iron-bound door to his chambers, unconsciously feeling the wards testing him to prove his identity. As he stormed through his entry hall, the door slammed shut behind him, and a presence drifted towards him.

 

Greetings, master. There have been no intrusions while you were gone.

 

Cioden growled and dismissed the guardian spirit with a curt wave. Of course there was no intrusion. There's never any intrusion. Ever.

 

Cioden walked over to his research area and checked the various vials and tubes. What he found obviously displeased him, as he grimaced savagely and swept a rack of them off the table, cursing.

 

His anger temporarily sated, he turned down the hallway leading to his room. Distracted as he was, he almost missed the sleeping figure on the cold marble floor.

 

Had he been in any state other than his current one, his reflexes would have kicked in, and the poor girl would have met her end at the wrong end of a fireball. As it stood however, he was sufficiently distracted to ascertain the identity of the intruder before starting his spellweaving.

 

Yui? What in the nine hells is she doing here?

 

Yui laid in a small heap on the floor, dreaming peacefully. Her blonde hair must have fallen free of her usual tie, as it surrounded her head like a halo. She looked pale and slightly haggard, as if she had just been through a great trial.

 

Cioden paced back and forth thoughtfully, his ire temporarily subdued and the monster replaced by a problem he could deal with. The general rule was that intruding into his personal quarters was punished by death - but the elders were exempt from this rule. Yui technically was an elder, but Cioden was having a hard time brushing off her intrustion due to her previous slights against him.

 

How can she just lie there sleeping? he wondered, staring at her. Something in his memory tugged at him, triggered by the sight of the sleeping form, but he brushed it aside, continuing his train of thought.

 

"I should kill her now and get it over with," he said out loud, musing to himself. "I can dispose of the body - or use it in an experiment." He idly scratched at the beard he had been growing. He looked at her again, and suddenly the memory flashed back into his mind.

 

Flames were everywhere, burning, consuming. Fear flooded through his body, and the flames grew evercloser. Suddenly he was picked up and a calm voice told him to be calm. The heat grew unbearable, then suddenly he felt the icy bite of the winter night again. Looking around, he found himself outside of a house he found vaguely familiar. A tall elven woman with shining blonde hair stood over him, looking down worriedly.

 

Stay here, Cioden - I'll be right back, she said, then rushed back into the flames. When Cioden looked around more, he realized the whole town was burning. Suddenly the house gave a dull rumble - then, with a sickening crack, the house collapsed in on itself. The young boy felt something pull at his heart, then something died deep inside him.

 

The memories retreated. Once more Cioden was in the hallway standing over Yui's body. He stooped and stared at her sleeping face. Silently, he picked her up and carried her dozing form over to his bed and laid her down gently upon it. Turning, he went back to his living quarters, his thoughts in turmoil.

Edited December 4, 2003 by Falcon2001

[Falcon2001]

Yui drifted between dreams and waking, murmuring something in her sleep as Cioden resolutely continued his experiments, ignoring her completely.

 

Eventually her eyes fluttered open, then narrowed as she froze, trying to remember where she was. She sat up and looked around, trying to ascertain her surroundings. The decor did nothing to help her - general black and silver were the favorite colors of many Pennites, and many villains besides. A scent hovered in the air, temporarily escaping her, and the room was very tidy and utilitarian.

 

She rose from the bed, noting that she was unharmed and all her belongings were still on her person. She stepped uncertainly around the room, lightly touching the different objects lying about until she came to a large portrait of a man on one wall.

 

Yui narrowed her eyes - something was very familiar about this man. He was pictured in a study of some kind, in a deep armchair. His hair was of normal length and jet black, combed back. He looked like an aristocrat of some kind, and one could tell from the various books and scattered objects on the desk next to him that he was a mage. His cheekbones were well-defined, and his hands were fine and thin. His eyes were black, with silver flecks deep in them. Yui drew in a sharp breath as she realized where she was, and she turned to see Cioden standing in the doorway, gazing dispassionately at the picture.

 

"Valden Darkeye, my late father." Cioden said from behind her. His eyes, so much like his father's, lacked the deep warmth that suffused the older man's portrait. Yui noted the similarities between the two. "I hardly knew him, but I was able to find this portrait from a merchant that had visited our manor."

 

Yui was surprised to hear such things from one such as Cioden. "He must have been a good man."

 

Cioden shifted his gaze to her, boring into her eyes. The cold had intensified to frost. "He was a weak man. He died when I was very young." He walked a few steps closer, and his gaze lost a bit of it's cold fury, but it was replaced with questioning.

 

"What are you doing in my private residences, Yui Temae?" His tone was warm, but the fury was not completely gone. Yui was willing to bet that it never left.

 

"I have information that you may be interested in, Cioden." Yui said, taking a few steps farther. "I wish to trade."

 

Cioden lost his composure and grabbed her cloak, pulling her close. The anger was fresh and burning fiercely behind his eyes. "Trade? You presume much, Huntress. You have no information I want - and if you did I would take it from you!" he flung her away and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

 

Yui caught herself, but she was momentarily thrown offguard by his sudden furor. She steeled herself though, and flung the door open, walking resolutely after him. By the gods this man was stubborn!

 

She found him in his research area, mixing some concoction together. He ignored her completely, burning eyes fixed on his work.

 

"I have information that nobody else has, Cioden." Still he didn't move.

 

"I know about the beast in the shadowrealm - the beast that bested you - the beast I saved you from. I know, and nobody else does."

 

He stopped.

 

"I'm the only one who knows this." She continued, making her tone hard and steely.

 

Cioden turned around, the anger gone - replaced by something else.

 

"Sit. I'll have my guardian bring us some wine."

 

 

--I'll post once more before it's Yui's turn again--

[Falcon2001]

Cioden's dark eyes stared at her over his goblet, making her slightly uneasy. She sat in a dusty armchair that smelled of aged leather. The glass of wine sat untouched next to her, though she yearned to take a drink.

 

"So you have information about the...creature we encountered on the shadowplane?" His distaste was audible as he spoke, and a flicker of anger showed up in his gaze. "Pray tell, of what nature is this information?"

 

Yui forced herself to keep from shifting uncomfortably as she looked idly around the room, trying to think of a way to continue the conversation. His living room was intensely clean - other than the current experiments going on throughout the place, the room looked as if nobody lived there at all.

 

"I went 'Walking again, Cioden." She said, almost offhandedly. "I noticed that you haven't done as much of lately." The jibe wasn't very subtle - she saw the anger flicker up again. "I managed to communicate with the creature."

 

"Do tell." Cioden took another sip of the wine, but his hand shook slightly. Yui smiled inwardly - she had him hooked.

 

"However, there is something I want in return. This world isn't about something for nothing, you know that best of all."

 

Cioden's eyes narrowed slightly, but he smiled slightly. "But my dear Yui, what could I possibly teach such an arbiter of beauty and power?"

 

Yui smiled wryly. "I want to learn how to better use my shadow walking ability."

 

Cioden looked at her curiously for a few seconds. Somehow Yui got the feeling that he wasn't looking at her anymore, but at something else.

 

He abruptly stood and walked to his bedroom, pausing in the doorway.

 

"I'll think about it. Come back tomorrow and I'll have your answer."

 

With that, he closed the door, leaving Yui suddenly and violently alone in the dark living room.

 

A small smile crept it's way onto her face, and she triumphantly walked out the normal door.

[Falcon2001]

Cioden's mouth twisted in a jagged snarl - tonight was not a good night.

 

Footsteps echoed with a sepulchral tock on the floor as he paced the living quarters restlessly - catlike. His burning gaze leapt from beaker to beaker, from tome to tome as he anxiously searched for an answer. On one table, tiny glass beakers rung different tones as liquid inside bubbled and boiled.

 

"This is ridiculous!" With a sweep of a pale arm the music of the beakers erupted into a tinny cacophany of noise and destruction as they shattered upon the cold stone floor. Cioden paid them no heed, turning around and walking away from the mess - his wraithlike servants would clean it up.

 

"I am not getting anywhere with this, and that...that monster dogs my steps and haunts my very dreams!" The fury in his voice was evident in the small room, causing his servants to scurry away to the corners of the room.

 

"She holds this over me as a threat - she has me at her disadvantage! That cannot be allowed." he continued, his voice beginning to regain it's normal calm disposition. He stopped suddenly, a moderately puzzled expression on his face. "It is the magic, of course, that I am truly interested in. That is the key to that creature's power. Somehow I must once again...No - that will wait for later. I do not have the resources to attempt another expedition into that fell place again. Nevermind that matter anyhow - it seems I must co-operate with Yui at least for now, 'ere I have my revenge upon that beast."

 

Calm again, he waved his hand idly towards the broken glass. Suddenly the chiming beakers were back in their stands, once again boiling and giving off delightful tones. He chuckled to himself and walked back to his bedroom. "After all, I always win in the end."

[Falcon2001]

Yui hesitated for a second, then knocked on the heavy iron-bound door three times. The resulting sound seemed small in the stone hallway, and as the sound died, she thought she heard muttering in the corridor beyond.

 

There was a muffled click and the door swung ponderously open, revealing the torchlit entry corridor. Yui threw a sidelong glance behind the door as she walked in, confirming her guess - there was nothing there but a guttering torch.

 

The door into the living quarters lay ajar, and she could hear the sounds of someone moving around inside. Pushing the door open, she stood momentarily in the doorway, looking for Cioden. He stood with his back to an ornate table, facing her. He was wearing a night-blue robe with tiny flickering stars sewn into it's surface - he seemed as the night sky. He chuckled. "Come into my parlor."

 

Said the spider to the fly Yui finished mentally. Plastering a polite smile on her face, she walked into the room, supressing the chill that swept over her. Magical wards - enough to be noted physically. She sat down in the chair Cioden indicated with a grand gesture.

 

"So, have you considered my offer, Cioden?" she asked, pleasantries discarded in favor of business. Cioden smiled - this was, of course, his way of doing things. He walked back over to the table.

 

"I've given it some thought - the idea holds it's merits. Would you like some cider or mulled wine?" he asked. As he spoke two pitchers rose mystically from the table to hover near his head - quickly joined by two goblets.

 

"I'll take the cider." Yui replied. Cioden nodded, making a strange gesture. One of the pitchers poured a bit of steaming liquid into a goblet, which hovered obediently. The goblet soared over to Yui's delicate hands, and she sipped it gratefully. Cioden quirked an eyebrow.

 

"No tests for poison - you trust me so much?" he asked, almost sardonically. Yui smiled warmly. "I am not as foolish as I seem. I took an anti-poison serum before visiting you, Cioden." He looked quizzically at her for a second, then burst into laughter.

 

"What a delightful answer, Yui!" he exclaimed, taking the other goblet and sitting down in the chair across from her. He sipped elegantly from the goblet, then dropped it. The goblet hovered where he released it, then retreated to hover soundlessly next to him.

 

"It seems as though I must acquiesce to your request - I admit that I am quite impressed by your...blunt approach to finding information about the creature." He said, gesturing slightly with his hands. "I will try my best to teach you how to use your gift in exchange for all the information you hold on the creature from the shadowplane." His eyes burned hungrily as he leaned forward slightly. "So...what do you know about this beast anyway?"

 

Yui nodded gratefully and took another sip of the cider. "It is, to the best of my knowledge, not of this plane of being - and not native to the shadowplane either."

 

---MORE POSTING ON THIS ONE WILL FOLLOW---

[Falcon2001]

Cioden abruptly stood and starting pacing, frowning hesitantly. "Hmm...there shouldn't be any way that a creature not native to the shadowplane would gain that much power this quickly. I have spies of my own."

 

Yui quirked an eyebrow. "I'm just telling you what I know."

 

Cioden stopped pacing, still frowning. "Hmm...well...I suppose I could check again." He turned to a dark corner of the wall, and Yui felt the cold tendrils of magic flare up around him. She shivered - this magic was unnatural.

 

"Skizat, come!" he called, his arm outstretched towards the shadows. Yui saw the shadows deepen, fading from black to a color somehow darker than black, the absolute lack of light and color. "Skizat, report to me." In the dark depths of the portal, something appeared.

 

Cioden grinned. "Skizat, how are my holdings in the shadowrealm doing?"

 

Silence.

 

Cioden's smile slipped and his brows narrowed. "Skizat, report-" A dark blur shot from the portal, flying into Cioden and knocking him across the room. The blur was followed by lancing darts of magical energy that left shining motes of magic in their wake as they leapt across the room to smash into the already off-balance mage. Yui leapt to her feet as the image just in time for the mindsplitting mental screech to wash over her.

 

CIODEN KILL

 

The beast stood on the other side of the portal, it's blue eyes gazing almost triumphantly upon the staggering mage.

 

Cioden think that Master cannot see spies. Cioden underestimate Master. CIODEN DIE! It's four arms whirled, and a barrage of missiles shot at Cioden. This time the magus saw them coming, and raised a magic shield that absorbed the shining daggers of light soundlessly.

 

Yui ran across the room, hoping to distract the monster, unsure of how her magic would work against such a creature. The beast stopped midspell as she ran into it's field of view. NOT-BEING! KILL! it screeched, and wove a new spell. Yui looked around for cover, but couldn't find anything nearby. She watched the spell form with a cold dread, and she started into the best counterspell she knew.

 

Suddenly the spell stopped though, and the roar of magic diminished substantially. The creature was taken aback, and tried weaving a new spell, which also fizzled.

 

WHAT HAPPEN?

 

Cioden sat, leaning up against one of his battered bookcases, chuckling to himself. "It's an anti-magic field. I always like to keep one of those handy. This one is attuned to me, and therefore prevents the shadowgate from closing just yet." He chuckled some more, but it was evident that he was in a lot of pain.

 

MASTER DESTROY CIODEN! the thing raved, glaring menacingly at them.

 

"Not any time soon, you won't. Begone, beast, and know that I am your true master." Cioden cut the magic that held the shadowgate together and it snapped shut, taking the mindscreech with it.

 

Yui sat for a long minute, starting around at the room. It was a mess - Cioden had smashed into a bookshelf when he had gotten thrown across the room, and books were strewn everywhere. Several experiments had been smashed, and other ones appeared to have simply exploded from being near the magic.

 

She looked over at Cioden, who sat there breathing hard. "So...truce?"

 

He looked back at her as if she was more than a little mad, then nodded. He closed his eyes and leaned back. "Truce."

[Yui-chan]

Two days later, Yui sat quietly in her favorite chair in the Pen’s library, her eyes on the book in her lap and her thoughts on a surly young man who was probably off sulking in his chambers. Cioden Darkeye. The past few days had verified something that she already suspected: he was a fascinating mess, a man of skewed vision and a very deep-rooted rage who’d decided power would be a good substitute for whatever it was he truly wanted. After the conversation about his father, she thought perhaps she could guess at some of what the mage was missing…

 

Ah, but what do you really know? She sighed to herself, shaking her head at her silly attempts at psychoanalysis. Cioden was a mystery, and after three separate visits to his sickbed over the recent days, she was quite convinced that he worked very hard to stay a mystery. Anger was his shield. Blind and often irrational rage was what he resorted to when questions went in a direction he disliked or when anything she said to him so much as hinted at vulnerability or dependence, and he had an alarming tendency to break things.

 

Yui smirked to herself and was forced to admit that if she could fix them again with a wave of the hand, she probably wouldn't be too bothered about breaking glassware, either. It did tend to be a very therapeutic anger management tool, even if it was hell on her nerves when he broke them in the process of throwing them at her. Each day since she'd begun her quest to learn more about the enigmatic Cioden Darkeye, she'd found one reason or another to be grateful for the time she'd spent developing fast reflexes. They were a bit of a necessity in his presence.

 

The thought had the young woman laughing aloud into the quiet space, her eyes crinkling. He amused her. From the first, when he'd awoken in the infirmary all wounded pride and angry hauteur, she'd been intrigued, fascinated by his depth of feeling and the extent to which he misled himself just to believe that he was invincible. In a lot of ways, he reminded her of the part of herself that few people saw, and perhaps because of that, she found she could no longer leave him alone. What had started out as a tricky plan to help someone who would never admit that he needed it had turned into a ... strange social experiment, an exercise in understanding a complex man as well as a chance to learn more about her own hidden rages and urges. Though few outside of the Huntress would know it, she and Cioden shared far more similarities than just their use of the shadows.

 

"There you are." Yui started slightly at the cold voice behind her and turned to see the object of her musings striding towards her. "I've been looking everywhere for you."

 

Summoning a smile, the woman ignored the accusation in his tone. "Good afternoon, Cioden. I see that you're feeling better," she answered politely.

 

The black-clad man's scowl deepened, but he ignored the blatant reminder of his weakness. "I require the rest of the information about the beast. Preferably now."

 

"Do you?" She couldn't resist a quirk of the brow as she carefully marked her page and closed her book. "Well, in that case, I suppose it's very convenient that I happen to have just finished my chapter." Yui forced her lips to stay neutral despite an urge to grin mockingly at him. She felt a bit like a kitten batting at a toy; the urge to prod his temper was just that irresistible.

 

Cioden's lip curled into an enraged snarl, and she watched him clench his fists at her impudence. "I have quite enough to deal with without suffering your inane remarks, Huntress," he growled, his eyes narrowing to ink-black slits.

 

"I'm sure you do," the woman answered dryly, unperturbed by his reaction. It might have been fun to bait him further, but she really didn't want to risk him going destructive in her library. She might have a harder time forgiving him for breaking a book than one of his many beakers and bowls. "Why don't you take a seat, and I'll tell you the entirety of my conversation with the creature in the shadows, then?"

 

He eyed the seat she indicated for a heartbeat before folding his arms across his chest and leaning back against the bookshelf behind him. "I'll stand, thank you. Enlighten me."

 

Yui grinned a little at that, shifting in her chair so that she could face the enigmatic mage more comfortably. Once again, his mood had shifted in an instant, and he stared at her not with malice but with an intense interest. She could practically see his keen mind whirring as he readied himself to absorb her every word. Fascinating.

 

With such a rapt audience, the young woman found it very easy to recount the details of her encounter with the pearl-skinned being that called itself the 'Master'. She shared their words and her own observations about the creature's temper and powers as well as the danger of its hypnotic gaze, wondering all the while at the reaction he was hiding behind his expressionless face. Cioden did nothing more than nod and interject with the occasional insightful question until she finished her tale with a shrug and a sheepish grin.

 

"... and after that, I awoke in your chambers," the Huntress admitted with a little bit of embarrassment. "The entire experience must have exhausted me, though I can't say whether that has to do with the beast or with the shadows themselves."

 

The man across from her sniffed haughtily. "Your method of traveling through the shadows is inefficient. Given how long you stayed within them, I'm not surprised you were curled up like a defenseless child on my doorstep. You let yourself be too weakened," he said, the contempt in his voice making it clear what he thought of that foolishness.

 

Feeling stung by his tone, Yui merely shrugged, her eyes cool. "It was worth the risk."

 

"Oh?" Cioden quirked a brow at her, frowning scornfully. For a moment, he seemed about to say more on the topic, but then his eyes narrowed and he waved a hand as if dusting whatever thought he'd been entertaining off the tabletop of his mind. "It got you closer to being killed than you know, woman."

 

Yui smirked. If the mage thought that revelation would shock her, he was overdue for a new clue about her nature. She nodded slightly, well aware of the defenses around his chambers. "I have been wondering why you didn't kill me when you found me there," came the question, and she speared him with a curious look.

 

The woman could practically hear the curses Cioden thought as soon as the question passed her lips, and she watched with an unhealthy amount of amusement as his eyes sparked with renewed rage. Apparently, she'd hit a particularly sensitive nerve, because he lunged at her, snagging his hands in the front of her cloak and hauling her out of her seat. The Huntress barely suppressed the instinct that had her reaching for the dagger hidden at her hip, her grey-green eyes widening slightly as the man shoved his face close to hers.

 

"I should have," he gritted out between clenched teeth, his fists shaking with the suppressed urge to hit something. Perhaps even her.

 

This time, the young woman couldn't look at those black eyes and feel amusement at his anger. There was a layer of hurt there, an uncertainty that lingered behind his typical reaction and tainted it, making this rage more authentic than most. She would have been willing to bet that Cioden wasn't entirely certain himself why he didn't kill her, and knowing him, that was a weakness that he was having trouble stomaching. He'd shown her a pointless kindness, and to him that would signify vulnerability. No wonder he'd been so surly with her since that day. To a man like him, some of the blame would have to lie on her shoulders.

 

Yui tried for a placating answer, resting her hands on his wrists as she got her feet under her. "It's lucky you didn't, then. You might not have found out about the Master's weaknesses as quickly if not for our barter."

 

It didn't work entirely as well as she'd hoped, but at least her respectful tone and neutral wording didn't make him any worse. Cioden scoffed and turned away, releasing her as suddenly as he'd grabbed her. "Our barter," he repeated, pacing away as he calmed himself. At the far end of the bookshelf, he turned back, watching her straighten her cloak again. "Come with me. I have a debt to pay, and the sooner I fix your ignorance about your own abilities, the sooner I can get rid of you."

 

With a sarcastic retort on the edge of her tongue, Yui snapped her mouth shut and leaned down to pick up the book she'd dropped. "Very well," she answered, turning away to place it on a nearby table.

 

As Cioden strode out the door, she trailed along behind him, busily contemplating all that she'd just learned about her unwilling partner...