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Post by karaikou on Aug 30, 2015 3:20:36 GMT
Tyarnach looked backwards, staring at Kee with some form of disbelief, lying was a serious offence but it was not as if Tyarnach could deny the claim. All he could do was hope that Cyburn would buy it.
"Oh really?" The mage tilted his head, briefly releasing the blue creature. "A true shame there is no proof. If only he had done that in my presence. Instead he protected you." He took a daunting step closer to Kee and seemed to have been inspecting her. "Regardless, you're here which means I now have one of the closest living relatives of Mystic in my presence, an being of magic with all the best kept secrets anyone with an arcane interest would just kill to expose."
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Post by sparklemuffin on Aug 30, 2015 7:20:47 GMT
Cyburn's gaze alone made her skin crawl, and her damp black nose twitched as she fought the desire to step away from him. "Those 'secrets' were given to my kind for a reason," She rebutted, not that she expected it to stop him from whatever he was planning to try on her. "Things humans were never meant to learn. Are you so faithless in the Creator that you'd accept his wrath just to sate your lust for forbidden knowledge?" She couldn't very well give him proof that Mystic still had some power to him, considering her lies to cover up what had happened to turn Tyarnach.
"What would you do with the knowledge of nature, in any case? You are not suited to the life of a guardian, a protector, or a healer. You're too twisted by greed to see past the most basic uses of my power."
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Post by karaikou on Aug 30, 2015 7:27:10 GMT
He liked the unnerved look, it made him feel stronger. "I'd invert it. Change healing to corruption, pure rain into acid rain and hold full control over the will of others." Cyburn stated his idea, and black magic swirled around his fingers. "The god abandoned us long ago, defeated by a far greater power. Using forbidden magic is just another step in evolution."
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Post by sparklemuffin on Aug 30, 2015 7:34:21 GMT
"That isn't how it works. These aren't spells learned to us by study or practice. What you're seeking to do isn't possible, and even if it were, you would risk unraveling the fabric of nature and drawing the ire of spirits far stronger than I am. What do you think we are, human? Particularly gifted little sprites that frolic in the flowers?" She couldn't help but bare her teeth, staring angrily at the arrogant man. "You would spit in the face of the Creator's work, bathe yourself in corruption that you have no full understanding of, so that you could call yourself powerful and hold yourself above all mortal beings? How ironic then, that if you were touched by this corruption yourself, you would become nothing more than a mindless pawn, unable to do anything by obey."
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Post by karaikou on Aug 30, 2015 8:17:45 GMT
Tyarnach didn't watch, he only listened to the conversation. Cyburn had much power and many contacts. If he wanted a new spell crafted, he'd make it happen. One way or another. And although not physically corrupted, the mage had unintentionally contracted a form of the blight that enslaved populations, as did many of the Citadel's residents.
"Oh shut your trap. I care not for your meager attempts at intimidation. And should you somehow attract your relatives to my work and I, I'll sacrifice as many guards, slaves and mongrel mutants as it takes to add them to my, soon to be, collection." The dark magic formed tendrils and in a few swift movements Kee would find what power she did have siphoned from her and transferred to it's caster.
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Post by sparklemuffin on Aug 30, 2015 8:30:17 GMT
Aside from the pain and discomfort of having her energy pulled away from her, the dark magic also felt incredibly wrong to her. Her skin prickled and she wanted to brush her hands over her arms and rub away the invisible insects that felt as if they were crawling over her, but she couldn't. She felt far too tired to do anything, really, as her strength ebbed away.
Her only consolation was the tiniest of revelations in the use of the word 'mutant', and it drew her gaze to Tyarnach with a furrowed brow. Beasts, creatures, and even monsters could all be considered natural. Mutants, she knew, were not. But was it a relevant piece of information or just an insult at the hands of a cruel master? Her breath hitched, not entirely because it was hard to catch her breath after experiencing the loss of her power. All she could do was glare up at Cyburn and silently wish for his painful downfall as she awaited his next move.
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Post by karaikou on Aug 30, 2015 8:54:01 GMT
Cyburn left if only briefly to return with rope and three of his household guards. But it seemed as if he had everything in mind for what he wished to do with both spirit and beast. "James, you know what to do. Seven days with no social interaction aside from fighting should make him reconsider who his loyalty truly lies with."
And while the cold armored man from before guided Tyarnach beyond view, Cyburn dealt with Kee, looping the itchy and uncomfortable rope around her neck before passing it to one of his grunts. "I think I'll make myself something to drink. Have her secured in my study, and if this works out well, who knows, I might share some of the profits with you both."
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Post by sparklemuffin on Aug 30, 2015 9:01:50 GMT
There was no point in resisting, not that Kee could if she wanted to. Her body felt weak and useless, the point that even following the man holding the rope was a chore. Her legs wobbled like a newborn's, and her hooves threatened to mar the immaculate floor as she kept upright. In that unsteady manner, she followed.
Knowing Tyarnach would be locked up for so long added to her long list of upsetting facts. She had done her best to lie, in the hopes of sparing him from something horrible, and she had no way to judge her success. Isolation seemed only a fraction gentler than a beating, but then, she was a creature that got lonely easily.
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Post by karaikou on Aug 30, 2015 9:26:02 GMT
Without a friendly face this house of horrors became far more terrifying, and although Cyburn's study didn't sound all that terrible, what laid behind its door was. Most who studied a particular craft considered their 'study' to be a place of books, parchment and maybe even some important objects used to enhance ones interests, but Cyburn's study took such things to a much darker level. The room was dull lit with the only light being that that filtered from the blinds on the Windows and some still functioning glyphs.
It was a large room occupied by two desks, a bookshelf, some kind of stone platform, artifacts and cages of various sizes. Though Kee wasn't going to be locked behind steel bars, no, instead she was lead to the platform and guided into the center of the cold and intimidating glyph, the runes that had been crafted into it came alight in a blue glow as her presence entered the circle.
Once she was centered she was released and one of the guards began to light the candles and torches to give the room some lighting, such was a downside to living in perpetual darkness.
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Post by sparklemuffin on Aug 30, 2015 9:31:40 GMT
If she were feeling foolish, or at least a little stronger, she might've tried to leave the platform once she was released. Instead, she could only sit on the hard surface and rub her face wearily. Her mind wanted to dwell more on the suspicion of Tyarn's mutation, but she was so very tired that she couldn't focus her thoughts for long.
"Why would you permit yourself to work for such a cruel person?" She halfheartedly questioned the guard lighting the room. It was a poor distraction when, the more progress he made, the more she could see of the room and dread silently what was in store for her.
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Post by karaikou on Aug 30, 2015 9:42:44 GMT
"It's what feeds my family, y'know?" The guard replied carelessly, he wasn't a slave nor servant so he needn't worry about breaking any rules by talking to a captive. "He's one of the richest Lords in the Citadel and he's powerful too, so doing the dirty work ain't always a bad thing, looks good if I want to buy m'own place."
Once the final torch was lit, the full extent of Cyburn's wicked studies came to life. From the skull of an ancient Dragon, to the pinned corpse of a recently killed Trap Spider right down to the weird things he kept on jars and an old, strange statue that gave off some kind of terrible negative energy, nothing was pleasant about where Kee was confined and the cruel things Cyburn might have planned for her were only limited by her imagination.
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Post by sparklemuffin on Aug 30, 2015 9:50:28 GMT
She wanted to object to such a reasoning, but it was entirely useless. They knew enough of who Cyburn was, and no words from a deer-shaped woman were going to change the situation. At least, that was what her tired mind was telling her. Far better to prepare herself for whatever horrors would follow in the coming days. Horrifying but darkly elegant experiments, she thought. Something painful and uncaring for her well-being but with plenty of planning behind it. She lied to herself that she wasn't afraid of the pain.
Seeing the spider saddened her especially. The corruption would be back if she was kept with Cyburn for too long, and she had a goal to both free Tyarnach and return but no idea on how to start either one just yet. As it turned out, knowing Tyarnach might've been mutated from something else didn't help her at all when she knew nothing of the process or even for certain what he was mutated from.
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Post by karaikou on Aug 30, 2015 10:05:28 GMT
The guards had left to let Kee dwell on her own thoughts but some time after those cold cruel footsteps approached the room. The sound of the door shutting and locking added to the sensation that whatever was about to happen, was going to be terribly painful.
"I suppose I should formally introduce myself." The mage said, sweeping a hand through his dry hair and striding closer towards the spirit. "The name is Cyburn. One of the Citadel's most famed and feared master's. And with good reason. I've made it a life goal to become the most powerful Human this side of the world and I believe you will be a valuable contribution in completing that goal. Haha, after all I'm already one of the best. In fact this city wouldn't run nor cope without my influence."
As the the man in his early fifties explained a little about himself, he began gathering times and other pieces of equipment from drawers and bookshelves. "Though my dear you needn't fret, I intend to keep you around for some time, at least until your usefulness has come to an end, in which case I'm sure a certain wizardess would be interested in your anatomy, but you'll not be returning to your pretty little forest anytime soon."
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Post by sparklemuffin on Aug 30, 2015 14:41:23 GMT
"The most powerful human on this side of the world," Kee repeated slowly, her voice quiet with fatigue. She had not been able to rest in the period between his arrival and the leaving of the guard, unable to quiet her mind and unwilling to risk him sneaking up on her somehow. But she managed to have a decent amount of hatred in her eyes and in her voice. "Yet somehow you must subjugate even children in your quest. So far all you've achieved is exceptional brutality and cowardice, neither of which are power."
Her legs quivered, but she forced herself to stand, swaying slightly on her hooves as she found balance. "Force is not power. Without fear, you would be worthless." It was not a wise choice of words, especially since he seemed to value worth, but as she saw it, she was in for pain whether she was silent or not.
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Post by karaikou on Aug 30, 2015 22:22:13 GMT
"Oh such pathetic taunts." Cyburn wasn't hurt by her insults, he didn't even care because after this she was going to be the one hurting, not him. As were evident by the large scissor like tool the was placed on the desk. "I'm afraid you see, power has two forms in this world. Destruction and benevolence and you're a long way from home so I don't expect you to know about that. But in Eternia, power comes from ones nobility and good deeds, here if comes from your ability to crush others beneath you. Power is when you have the ability to take life and others know it. As I'm about to show you."
He was particularly interested in the magical energy that came from her antlers and with the cruel tool in his had, he approached. Leaning against them as he stopped in front of her with challenging eye contact.
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