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[h1][b][u]Alys[/u][/b][/h1]
&
[h1][b][u]Mathias[/u][/b][/h1]
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[i]Twenty-five years after Antiquity…[/i]
[hr]

It had been ten years since Alys and Mathias had met.

Those ten years had been… not particularly purposeful. They had burned a couple more villages after that first one they encountered, but eventually that had lost its appeal, especially when people began to actively hunt them down. Such encounters typically ended with either Alys burning them or Mathias flinging them off into the far distance.

Anyhow, burning villages was no longer [i]fun.[/i] Once the awe of watching entire buildings go up in flame wore off, all that was left was the smoke, which stung her eyes and choked her lungs. Burning people who came after her remained entertaining, but once they had stopped razing settlements, then put enough distance between themselves and the areas they had razed, those attempts came to a stop.

As the years went on, Alys learned to better control her powers, though they could still flare up with emotional outbursts. One thing she couldn’t control was that, at even the smallest use of her magic, animals in the immediate vicinity would fly into a rage or panic, bleating loudly and trying to escape their confinement. This saddened or frustrated her at times, but eventually she stopped caring, and focused on the development of her powers.

Instead of simply burning things, she focused on more subtle arts of magic. It took time, but eventually with some guidance from Mathias she figured out how to create things that weren’t truly there - illusions.

As the years passed and Alys grew, her supernatural beauty soon became apparent. She turned heads of men and women alike whenever she was seen, with some quite literally stopping in their tracks or forgetting to breathe upon seeing her. One time the lord of a town had been determined to marry her, and she had pretended to be interested, accepting many gifts before leaving the next day. Aside from her appearance, she also had her illusion magic, which she used to put on many entertaining shows in return for payment.

Their journeys had taken them all across the Highlands, with no clear goal in mind, though Alys retained her insistence that [i]she[/i] was in charge and always knew what she was doing.

Then a strange thing happened. Alys had heard stories of a band of warriors. Led by a white-haired warrior and a red-haired mage. The mage was unfamiliar, but the warrior? After questioning further she had discovered he went by the name of Carn.

Her brother.

She had tried to search him out, following his trail by asking around and paying attention to gossip. Eventually, however, the trail went cold. No new stories were being told.

And that brought her to today. Seated in a tavern, eyes downcast, a depressed look in her eye.

Mathius sat across from her, his form still strange and people would often stare, but fewer and fewer cared to confront them about it. [color=A52A2A]"What's wrong Alys?"[/color] 

“We’re not going to find him,” she whispered.

[color=A52A2A]"And what makes you say that? Sure he's a bit hard to pinpoint but a white haired buff man should be easy to find."[/color] 

Her frown deepened. “We haven’t heard anything new in months. It’s like he disappeared…”

Mathius pondered, admitingly he wasn't that good at finding people, he stumbled upon Alys on a fluke [color=A52A2A]"Well, he does have divine blood, much like you, it's possible he had to go into hiding...maybe we try asking Cadien? he's bound to know where his children are."[/color]

“He never answers my prayers.”

[color=A52A2A]"Guess he's a more hands off father,"[/color] He sighed, looking around the tavern [color=A52A2A]"Maybe we could try to track down one of your other siblings?"[/color]

“And where would we even begin to look? They’re probably dead.” The words were spoken coldly and with resentment, as if that was somehow [i]their[/i] fault.

[color=A52A2A]"I would like to remind you that you and your siblings have cadien's blood and gods know what other help, I highly doubt they're dead, besides, my father would've heard of any of their deaths, hopefully."[/color] He tried to ignore the resentment, he wasn't much to touch on emotions, considering he had little.

She sighed. “Then what do we do? I’ve heard nothing of Brundt or Evette, and we’ll never find Carn at this point. What are we doing, Mathias?”

[color=A52A2A]"Currently? sitting in a tavern, but,"[/color] He leaned in closer to Alys [color=A52A2A]"Maybe we try to bring them to us?[/color]

“And how do you suggest we do that?”

[color=A52A2A]"We're the creations of two gods, I'm sure we can do something that'll reach their ears, y'know, like our old burning days."[/color]

She rolled her eyes. “But that is so [i]dull.[/i] And all sorts of annoying people pop up to try to kill us.”

[color=A52A2A]"Fine, maybe then we, try something else, there's gotta be something we can think of that could attract the attention of three god children"[/color] Mathius gestured around the tavern, pondering any ideas. 

Alys opened her mouth to reply, when they were interrupted by the approach of a rather confident-looking young man. He came to a stop before the table, and his gaze fell on Alys, staring at her while making no move to speak. Then she turned to glare at him. He blinked in surprise, and his cheeks reddened slightly, as he remembered why he had approached them. He cleared his throat, puffed out his chest slightly, and straightened his posture.

“Excuse me, is this man bothering you?”

Her glare lingered, then she shook her head.

“Are you sure?” he asked. “Looks like he is. I can get rid of him, if you want. Won’t be any trouble.”

Mathius only looked at Alys, despite the wrappings and that he had no face, it was clear he was giving a look of 'what is happening'. Alys did not reply, and instead leaned back in her chair. Mathias could have sworn that traces of a smirk suddenly appeared on her face.

Not receiving an answer, the man turned to regard Mathias. “Listen. I can tell you’re making her uncomfortable. And the rest of us aren’t too happy to have you here either, with your robes and your… wrappings. They say that only a guilty man hides his face. So I think it’s best you be on your way.” He cracked his knuckles while speaking.

Mathius sighed [color=A52A2A]"Come now, there's no need to get feisty,"[/color] Mathius rose from the table placing one of his boney hands on his shoulder [color=A52A2A]"I'm sure we can talk this out."[/color]

The man knocked his arm aside, and gave him a shove. “Read the room. We don’t want you here.” He shifted his gaze over to Alys, clearly hoping this display of bravado would impress her. She wore a look of complete disinterest, which suddenly gave the man pause.

Mathius chuckled [color=A52A2A]"Come now, if you're gonna impress her try a little harder."[/color]

The man frowned, then his frown became a scowl. “Didn’t want to hurt you too badly, old man, but if you’re asking for it…” he twisted his body, and then launched a roundhouse kick directly at Mathias’s midsection.

The attack was, in truth, harmless to Mathius, but he decided to make a show of it, reeling backwards a bit, but grabbing the man's leg, pulling him forward, hoping Alys was having her fun.

The man’s eyes widened, and he attempted to pull his foot free, hopping on one foot to retain his balance. “A truly valiant display of heroics…” Alys said drily, earning a few chuckles while the man’s face flushed in embarrassment.

Mathius was beginning to get a bit annoyed by this whole endeavor and figured he would show this man a lesson. He let go of the leg, and in the same instant he rapidly raised his free hand, his rags glowed ever so slightly and the man was thrown, not a long distance this time, only a few feet, not enough to hurt but enough to get his point across. 

The man fell onto his back. It had all happened so quickly that nobody had blinked at Mathias’s display of power - it looked more as if he had pushed the boy rather than telepathically throw him.

“Alright, that’s enough,” the bartender snapped. “Break it up.” He hauled the boy to his feet. “Go home,” he barked, before turning on Mathias. “And you, no more of that.” The latter warning was half-hearted though, and the bartender quickly went back to his business. As the man walked out of the tavern in embarrassment, Alys hung her head, bored once again.

“There has to be something fun to do,” she sighed.

Mathius turned to look at her, the expression of ‘really?’ forming with his rags, before, an idea sprang into his mind, not so lightly aided by his creator. [color=A52A2A]”Wait Alys,[/color] he quickly sat down once more across from her, [color=A52A2A]”People seem to always be drawn towards you right?”[/color]

She nodded. “So what?”

He leaned in closer [color=A52A2A]”I think I just figured out what we can do, what's the best thing to draw the attention of divine heroes?”[/color] He paused for a brief moment for the flair and quieted his voice somewhat [color=A52A2A]”A cult!”[/color] he added some jazz hands for more flair.

“A cult?” she asked, thinking about it for a few moments. “Hm. Maybe one dedicated to the most beautiful woman in the world?” she asked, her lips curling into a smile.

Mathius paused for a few seconds, should’ve, should’ve expected that response. [color=A52A2A]”Indeed, that and, with the aid of a god known for some, dramatic flair?”[/color] he gestured towards himself to get the point across. 

“Dramatic flair?” she asked. “Sounds more like a group of magicians and bards than a cult.”

[color=A52A2A]”Well, ya, thats kind of the point, on the outside it looks nice, like a carnival of sorts so we don’t get thrown out, but behind the mask we have ulterior motives, grow our support, travel around, cause some trouble, rumors begin, your siblings arrive, besides, if word got around of a white haired woman leading a group of bizarre entertainers, that’d be sure to get their attention.”[/color]

Alys thought about for another moment. “Well,” she decided. “The people of this ‘cult’ should at least be good looking.”

[color=A52A2A]"I expect nothing less, think of it, beautiful men and woman craving for your attention, leading your own cult across the highlands, performing for the world while, partaking in the more, sinful, ways of life, it’d be pretty fun wouldn’t it?”[/color]

“Perhaps it would,” she agreed. “How do we get started?”

[color=A52A2A]”Well, how about we use that power of yours to start gathering a few, willing, participants? Entice them in with words of love and of the Director, get them to take oaths, that sort of deal.”[/color]

She nodded. “Yes. I think I like that idea. We can’t let in just anyone, though…”

[hr]
They had found their first recruit in the capital of Merok. A rather handsome-looking singer who had been unable to keep his eyes off of Alys. By the next morning, she had convinced him to join Mathias and her as a travelling companion. As the weeks past, they travelled from village to village, making a name for themselves as entertainers - she with her magic; him with his voice and instrument. 

As the months went on, she eventually convinced more to join her, starting their own little troup. The members of that troup soon began vying for her favour, each determined to impress her, which she was able to exploit to retain their loyalty. Inevitably they wound up witnessing the true extent of hers and Mathias’s abilities, but in doing so they proved themselves to truly have the favour of the gods, which if anything only strengthened their hold over the members further. 

Mathius too held his own sway over the troup, his avatar powers cemented his position as a kind of second in command. He would aid in the performances with a Yamatian flair and would defend them in case any trouble arose. Of course he would also speak the mantra of the God of Tragedy to those who joined, it was subtle, but the beauty of tragedy began to worm its way into the members, making its corrupting way into their mind and soon granting them the benefits of tragedy to aid them. 

Thus, the Carnival was born. 

[hider=summary]
We pick back up with Alys and Mathius years later, exactly ten years since they had met, in that time Alys finally grew to adulthood, they burnt down several more villages and yeeted others, before that got boring, Alys learnt demon summoning and dealt with her growing power of attraction and finally they tried to track down Carn to, little success due to him just sort of vanishing. We see the pair at a tavern, with Mathius trying to figure out a way to find the other cadien children, all of which are kinda dumb, while Alys is super sad that her siblings are probably dead. Suddenly wuh-oh! Another dude obsessed with Alys comes up and tries to fight Alys, but it doesn’t go well for him(Yeet Counter: up to 5 now not counting those unseen), this causes Mathius to realize a plan to attract Alys’ siblings, start a cult! Of course it's mostly centered around Alys being attractive and is pretty much a troup of performers but it's there now. The Carnival is made!
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[hider=MP]
Yamat Start: 5/5

[b]Alys[/b]
MP
Illusionist II - Alys has the power to weave mana into powerful illusions. At this level, Alys can conjure forge images of people or animals, and is capable of making them move around and talk. However, physical objects will pass through them as if they aren't there.

[b]The Carnival[/b]
Free with Misfortune
Misfortune’s Guide II: The work of misfortune surrounds this Holy Order and aids it. Whenever this group performs, a misfortune will strike the city or village they have performed in, and in their favor. At this level the misfortunes are small, a rival suffering a setback, money being lost and falling into their hands, etc. A cooldown of a week must occur before another misfortune can strike due to their performances. 

Yamat end: 2/5 
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