[quote][b][color=#38b000]"Well, look at that."[/color][/b] She said, not even hiding the venom in her words. The elder djinn hadn't been an endearing host. In fact, all this was breaking the unsaid rules of hospitality and such a knife cuts both ways. The itch to knock him down a peg wasn't something Verdant resisted. [b][color=#38b000]"It came back to haunt you at the least opportune moment."[/color][/b]

A feral grin split her visage like a gaping scar, filled with too many needle-sharp teeth for a human. Posture low and muscles tense, Verdant was more a serpent ready to spring than the little glutton that was her usual mask.

[b][color=#38b000]"None here are yours to claim, old thing."[/color][/b] She hissed harshly, scales sprouting across her face and the back of her arm, spreading down until a sinuous tail grew behind. [b][color=#38b000]"She'll not be a sacrifice to pay for your mistake."[/color][/b][/quote]

Standing in front of sheathed weapons, and envenomed words belonged to... people who refused to hear, Arcan the Ancient Djinn replied to the obstinacy with a hardened stance. No weapon was drawn from his end, but he stepped forward, again phasing through the desk, and glared at the party. For the moment, all the light in the room was rapidly diminished by his own shadow, and the air remained tigled with thick hostility. 

He was too focused on that snake youkai in front of him, and that allowed Miwa to edge out of the periphery and reach Jazdia. 

[quote][color=6ecff6]"How much time do we have until the curse corrodes Jazdia's soul and Lythiel is finally released?"[/color][/quote]

The Miko said, drawing his full attention. His anger was like a flame in open winter, tempered by his own rule; he stood there unmoving, tense and slightly undecided. Too late to do anything physical. 

[b][i]"You are already late."[/i][/b] He answered icily. 

[quote][color=6ecff6]"No curse is unbreakable. Just because you don't know a way to break it, doesn't mean it's impossible. Even if we aren't successful in breaking it, there are other options. If we could find something powerful enough to cause an interference with the curse or with the link between the curse and Lythiel herself, it could be possible to more easily dispel the curse or to, perhaps, transfer it to another thing."[/color] Miwa said, still thinking about different ways to deal with the situation.
[/quote]

At those long-winded words, Arcan tried to suppress a bitter snide. [b]"I don't know it, yes, but with the basis of vast knowledge I possess. This pitiful doubt of yours, however, stemmed from how little knowledge you have. There is no cure." 
[/b]

[quote][color=6ecff6]"In the end, killing an innocent person, even if it seems justifiable for you... Wouldn't that make you closer to Lythiel? Whom, even in her twisted ways, thought it was justifiable to cruelly attack even her own childhood friends? Your master, Theriadore, was a scholar. Where most people would see an impossible obstacle, he likely saw it as a challenge to surpass."[/color] Miwa said, looking at the crystal that Theriadore created to imprison Lythiel.[/quote] 

[quote]
[color=6ecff6]"Besides... If Lythiel was able to curse someone while being imprisoned, killing Jazdia wouldn't prevent her from doing it again, would it? The very fact you were able to meet Jazdia and detect this curse was extremely lucky. If you didn't, you would never have known Lythiel was plotting her escape."[/color] Miwa continued.[/quote]

Arcan was silent, not because he ran out of words, but rather because he had too much to pick that in the interstice of his anger, he somewhat flinched in perplexity.

[b]"I will not call a person who made a deal with evil an innocent. And do not mention her name in the same line with my master," [/b]Arcan thrummed low. He stared back, rigid with rage tightly leashed, yet in his words, there was a layer of unmistakable dread. 


"[i][b] Still naive, I see! I will tell you the scale of destruction Lythiel was capable of. The day, that day! When she finally returned 30 years after the courthouse massacre. We had prepared, but that wasn't enough. The brightest minds in Varenheim, and only a handful survived the battle. The land withered with elven blood that day, and black flames came alive and swarmed the battlefield. Djinn and elves, not many could stand her attacks. 
One by one, she culled our strongest warriors and mages like snapping branches, turning some into dried husk of corpses in a few blinks of an eye, and fed on their lives as her unholy black fires emerged from their crumbling carcass. 
[/b][/i]

He paused to look at Jazdia, inhaling a breath to feed the wrath that was already burning deep. Now the terrible memory was in a process of manifesting, right in front of him. 

[i][b]"We did not seek to find knowledge to tamper with such dangerous power. We seek a way to end it! And bless the Creator! Her power was not as enduring as her wrath. After many lives lost, my master managed to subdue her; chaining her with spells and entombing her in crystal. We did not kill her because we know her power was attained by breaking the sacred law of life and death; a very tight and unusual imprisonment was the only choice. Now I ask you---Yes, we are very lucky to know this. But now with all the stakes laid bare. Can you live with knowing you helped set that monster loose? My concern was not just for my own safety, but very likely for anything in this world you held dear."
[/b][/i]

Silence again for a while. Arcan let every word hang in the air. His shadow retreated. Jazdia had risen from her position, helped by Miwa, and he could only watch in grinding restraint. 

[color=ec008c]"Then tell me, Curator Arcan."[/color] Jazdia finally said, staring darkly at the ancient Djinn. A blade gleamed in her left hand, while her right arm held Miwa's for support. [color=ec008c]"Fifty Years I have mastered her power. For seventeen centuries, Lythiel endured all that metaphysical torment your Master had condemned her to. Tell me then, why did she have to wait another 50 years? Why didn't she take me that day, when I was wounded and dying?"[/color]

Arcan's gaze fixated on her with enmity ready to be unleashed. But her words stirred something inside him, a loathsome thing he refused to acknowledge, yet so undisputed. He maintained a cruel distance between them by ignoring the question.

[color=ec008c]"You don't know, do you?"[/color] She pressed again. [color=ec008c]"There is a gap in that vast knowledge you are so proud of."[/color] 

[i][b]"I do not care, and I don't need to know."[/b][/i] He replied coldly "[b]My problem is right in front of me. Why should I ponder about the wicked intricacies that the monster is plotting with [i]you[/i] if I can end it now?"[/b]  

Jazdia tightened her grip on her blade, her words rigid with unyielding resolve.

[color=ec008c]"Then know that I will not go quietly. I am the master of my own fate, not you, not even Lythiel."[/color]

[i][b]"Oh, you will fight for it?"[/b][/i] Sneered the elder djinn contemptuously.[b][i] "And then what? You don't know anything but fighting it blindly, do you? Such arrogance! No wonder Lythiel chose you---a perfect vessel, body and soul, cursed with the same sin."[/i][/b] He paused to assess the surroundings. Every spear, blade, and poison, and provocation. All calculated, and his conclusion was a temporary de-escalation that did not necessarily make his agitation die down. 

[i][b]"I will not fight you. Not here, not with your friends in the way. No, I refuse to sully this gallery with your short-sighted rebellion."[/b][/i] 


[quote][b][color=6ecff6]"In one way or another, we will find a way to deal with this problem once and for all. Will you aid us?" Miwa said, extended her hand towards Arcan, waiting for his reply.[/color][/b][/quote]

The curator shifted his attention to the Miko. After all those warnings and no heedings, his face was stern in disappointment, and her reach for peace was ignored. [i][b]"I have done my part, as promised. Now it is clear to you what you are dealing with. Do what you want with that knowledge." 
[/b][/i]