[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/qI0IA2q.png[/img][/center] [hr] The augur Nil set about his work, in a hovel abandoned long before the war on the outskirts of the settlement. He did his best to ward the house with symbols and other trinkets, though even he wasn’t sure if this was invoking magic or wives tales. It was the middle of the night, but his blind-fold was tightly folded around his eyes and he had a scented mask to drown out any senses. He needed complete focus, and was afraid of what he might see or smell when he began his examination. He laid on the floor, and began to focus. He forced himself to look at the door that he has now noticed was always just on the fringes of his extraordinary sense. It hurt, but he pushed through and was just about to notice something when the door slammed close. He refused to allow the answers slip from his grasp and held tightly, attempting to see past it. As Nil pushed to try to gain some means of insight, holding on so tightly to a door that refused to give, all sense of it suddenly broke away. Instead replaced with a vision gazing so intently back, a Massive Eye emplaced in a spiked disk looking back at him, into him with an intensity that was rare in any mortal endeavor, connecting directly to his mind. There was a kind of void demanding to be filled, barging on his mind as the pressure from the vision he now felt grew slightly stronger in each moment. Nil steadied himself. He felt his instincts flare, compelling him to run. But even as he felt that he was facing mortal danger, he stood his ground. He attempted to speak with the eye, “Are you some figment of my mind, or are you something else?” A voice came back, made of the chittering of rodents, the calls of birds and the distant laughter of something not quite human. Each melded till it became a single voice flowing into his mind. [color=Fuchsia]"Something else. Explain your intrusion."[/color] The pressure on his mind had stopped growing, yet the eye still gazed back into him as he refused to flee. He replied, “My eyes wander in service of the Rest.” but his voice was split, another intention spilled through, “I will do what I must for my brother.” The voice replied, [color=Fuchsia]"For what reason do you seek to see beyond life? The Rest is focused on other matters is it not? The concerns of the Westfold are many. You seek aid for your brother, and yet you still stand here, what to you is aid?"[/color] Nil was silent, he was attempting to logically think of a response and while he did, words slipped from his subconscious that formed the story of him travelling to his abandoned home town due to reports of a monster, and finding the remnants of his brother and him gazing at the door and seeing that his brother crossed over it. [color=Fuchsia]"Your brother died Nil. Many you knew and loved did so, this is the fate of life. The best you can do is join them in Paradise. All crossover and are granted such, join them Nil, you won't find a good end by trying, the cycle only continues. War will reach the Westford once more, whether tomorrow or a century hence. It cannot be stopped, what happened to you and your brother will happen again countless times to many through generations. It happens even now. Your best hope is to reach Paradise, enjoy and rest with all that you love, all of those who love you and you love. It is beyond life, even if you do not contemplate it you know how to go, letting go of all that this world holds."[/color] For a moment, Nil considered the words and thought about how easy it would be to simply let everything fade around him. But then he remembered his brother, his second voice shouted, “My brother is not in paradise.” His eyes adjusted, and in front of him was no longer a giant eye but a tall gaardskarl man in bronze armor carrying a spear with a skull impaled through it, the figure that haunted his nightmares, what he thought Sigeran to appear as. He just mouthed, “You” The Gaardskarl looked himself over in his mind's vision, [color=Fuchsia]"Me. A name you'd know well enough here in the Westfold."[/color] The voice changed to match that of the vision now so shown, whispering voices of a thousand Dûnans formed into one as he spoke, [color=Fuchsia]"You are correct, he is not. He could not rest in Paradise, he was too attached to the world below. So he went back, his will is strong and he holds on ever so tightly now. I hope that he truly could grow out from it, and return in time. True enough he will return in time and be granted rest."[/color] [color=Fuchsia]"So what do you wish for now Nil? What information do you need? What path do you seek to take? You are renewed so you might as well set your purpose now."[/color] He paused for a moment. The door and the eye had an intangible, mystical and grand fear emanating from it. A torrent of energy that could be overcome with sheer will, but now he was facing something wholly different. A reminder of the devastating that he personally experienced, the trauma that led him to become an augur in the first place. His primary voice was quiet, while his second shouted, “I will murder you.” A sigh, [color=Fuchsia]"You can't, try something else with what you do with your life if you intend to keep it. Help your brother back to Paradise, or lead others as far away from it as possible. I'm not going to dictate to you what you should choose, if you choose well I may tell you how to help. Poorly and you throw away such opportunities. It is of little consequence."[/color] Nil muttered, “What paradise do you need to escape from.” while his second voice just keep repeating a single word, “Why” [color=Fuchsia]"You do not escape from Paradise, you reject it. When a soul is so terribly distraught by what happened on Galbar that they cannot rest, they cannot enjoy Paradise. I would not suppress the feelings and desires so much upon a soul that it would deny something held so close to its own being and essence. I let them go back, give them an amount of power so that they might find what so mattered to them and let it fade either with time or by their own effort. Only those of the greatest of wills can do this, to be so distraught in their life and all the suffering endured that they cannot make use of their own death. That is what your brother is caught in, he cannot enjoy Paradise because he is too caught up in what happened in your village, what happened then haunts him more than any means or measure a spirit could do to the living world of Galbar."[/color] [color=Fuchsia]"If you wish to help your brother, help any who come back with what remains of your life, help them find peace. Death is eternal, life is not, one will make a bigger difference seeking to make good than whatever few joys one can take in life."[/color] The augur’s two voices began to overlap, as he angrily shouted, “You speak of what I must do, none of this would have happened if not for you, if you had just allowed time to wash us away into your oblivion.” [color=Fuchsia]"When the druids of Ha-Dûna gave me the name that you know, when they spoke and asked of me what I wanted from them, I told them what they would have as reason to do what they wished. I did not tell the Dûnans' to fake a cause for war, I did not tell them to march all the way to Grimholt, subjugating and killing as they did. I gave them cause to do as they already wished, in doing so they sent more to Paradise. Perhaps your life would not have been so wrecked as it were if I had not replied to them so, but do not so callously think that there is not the capacity for such evils within you and all else that lives. I may have said that it is what should be done, yet others still jumped to the task." "Blame me if you must, but do not think that the suffering of all that lives is my fault alone. I only came forth when the first things that lived died in agonizing pain, I brought their souls to rest, I created Paradise for the dead. I did not create life. Blame me for your village as it did happen. Do not think though that no evils would have not come to pass did I not step in. There is no oblivion in Death, it is eternal, it lasts and lasts even with each scar I have to heal and each wound to be treated from the brief sprint of Life. I do not ask for your praise, only that you act morally as you are best able in an immoral world."[/color] The two voices spoke the same words, but started to become out of synch with each other, “Stop. Just stop. You can’t be trusted. You.” he started to reach out with his auguric power, the new power he barely understood, exorcism and directed it at the god form even though he still felt as though there was something lacking behind it. Another sigh, [color=Fuchsia]"Take what you will from my words, you are not the first to ignore my meanings nor will you be the last. I will fulfill your request, I truly do hope you find aid, perhaps another is better suited to handle you."[/color] With those words the presence, the vision in his mind and all its pressure was gone. His eyes open, he was in a cold sweat on the floor. His mind was still sore, attempting to reassembly itself in a coherent system. He felt the new power wrapped around him, finally completed before fading back into him. He could still sense the door, but he could not fully direct his senses towards it anymore, nor could he ever let it fade from his sense entirely. His mind, still fogged by the experience, lurched up and he found himself in front of the ghost, his brother. His power flared as the ambient mana responded to his will, his still burning rage, as it surrounded the spectre and began to hold it in place. He saw his brother suffering, suffering due to that monster. It was struggling, in more pain than it had before. It took him a few moments to realize that it was because of him. The mana was reacting to his hatred, and was harming his brother. He began to take deep, heavy breaths and attempt to calm. In tears, he spoke to his brother, “I am sorry. I have allowed that monster to hurt you in life and in death. I will not allow him to hurt you any further.” For perhaps the first time, the ghost noticed his brother and his surroundings. It did not say any words, but Nil could feel his brother’s sorrow and regret. It's thought drifting into the augur’s mind, “It isn’t your fault, brother.” The augur collapsed to his knees, as in his mind, the village was back as it was and he was telling his still breathing brother about a nightmare he had, the events of his death and all of what happened afterwards. His brother looked at him with a pained expression, “I am sorry for all the grief I have caused. Maybe I should not have died but we can not change that now.” He vanished, he once again saw the city as the ruins that it was and the spectre was gone. He sat there and cried. [hider= Story Summary] Nil, the augur who had an encounter with his ghost brother, does what he can to prepare to further examine the door he has encountered while in town. His attempt to closely analyze the door, actually the soul array, draws Thaa’s attention and they begin to talk. After inquiring about his motive in the form of a giant eye, he attempts to bring Nil to his philosophy to which he nearly embraces until he recognizes Thaa as Sigeran. The two have a heated chat about life and death, until Nil eventually breaks and attempts to exorcise Thaa. This obviously does not work, but Thaa recognized what the ability was and what was missing and kindly provided it before ending the vision. Nil has an encounter with his ghost brother, and he uses his new found exorcist powers to hold his brother in place. He realizes that his anger is causing him to hurt his brother while his brother starts to become aware of what is happening. Nil escaped into a vision and talked to his brother about what happened that led to this point. His brother, now fully aware of this situation, allowed himself to move on. Leaving Nil to embrace the reality of the situation. 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