Aliseth had followed Daphne to the door, seeing her out and closing it behind her. There he waited for a long drawn out silent moment. A sigh eventually escaped his lips as he pulled his thoughts together. His heavy armor clunked as he turned around. Sturdy metal plates gliding over one another as steadily, on long purposeful strides, he made his way back to the iron bars, back to the prisoner.
Now, it was just them.
His sword was back on his hip, and he leant against the cell door. Forearms resting on the metal crossbar that housed the lock and handle, one gauntleted hand and one bare, dangling inside the cage.
He eyes the prisoner and clicks his tongue a few times.
"So... Gadez. What was the plan? Huh?" His tone nothing of what it was just moments before. No frivolity or carefree jest. Just like his features it had grown cold, dark, serious and full of accusation.
"Steal my sword and stab me in the back? Wait for the change of guard? Hope someone fell asleep on duty?"Aliseth held an expression equally divided between scorn and curiosity.
"Why not just free you himself." He adds to the growing questions without explanation, this one more rhetorical than figurative.
"But of course." He says with realisation.
"Why be seen abusing power, defying his own laws. Why do that when he can simply lay the blame on a Lunarian, compile their failures, pave a path to seize more control..."Aliseth shakes his head before stepping back and kicking the cell door, watching as it swings open with a long groaning squeal.
"The only question now is, what do I do about it???"His hand casually fell to the hilt of his sword and his feet shuffled to a more ready position. Not a full combat stance but readily prepared to move.
The blond man's gaze had fallen on the cell door the moment it had been kicked open, his facial expression had however not changed from one of amusement. His hands however were now slow clapping.
"Hnn… Hnn… I knew you would come here eventually. Blightborn. Some like to dabble in predicting the future, I however inflict it. That is why I am here. Why don't you lose that veneer, blighted one? Unless fear has gripped your heart as eagerly as you try to grip your blade. Fret not. I have no intention of stabbing you in the back. That is the way of someone who is scared to face what lies before them. You speak as if I only had a single plan in mind. I have many, regardless which pathway I tread, I will win. However, can you say the same for yourself?
Which path will lead you to a victory worth cherishing? I seek to bring the blightborn kingdom to fruition so that the two olden ones will disappear, along with their kings, representatives and their divine belief with it. The very divine which has cursed you with the unlife you now don, if you are to hate someone hate those who have afflicted you this way. You are not the only one cursed by the gods, within these two hands I bear the anguish of all those whose lives have been oppressed and destroyed. But what will you do now?" Gadez asked as his hands raised to his chest, but they were not tightened into fists, but rather straightened out as if they were blades. His left arm horizontally held across his chest, the right arm held vertically.
"You could draw your blade, make a lunge for it, try to kill me in a place where I cannot fight at my fullest? Robbing yourself of true victory regardless if I live or die, and were I to somehow die, then you would never truly be rid of me, for I would forever haunt you in your memories and any attempt for you to prove yourself a true warrior is lost. You could also ignore these things, fling yourself at the man who placed himself here willingly, who spent a lifetime channeling his hatred of this world into this very body. These very hands.
You blightborn are quicker and stronger than the average man and possess powers whose origins I know of. I have fought your ilk before. Reaction speed, muscle memory and knowing where and when to strike. That is something which only time and practice can bring, and judging by your appearance, you've had neither so far. I offered my body, soul and mind to a cause a long time ago, shall I have to add yours to that offering? When all you could do is let me leave here. For how will they have time to look for you, when they are busy chasing me? Regardless of how you may feel. You have only to gain by simply letting me go. Providing of course you are man enough to face a challenge?
Besides, I think we both would enjoy the look of the royals face when they return to find this jail... sorely lacking. So what shall it be then?" The blond man smirked, his left leg standing before his right one, his arms still raised, his blue gaze observing Aliseth. His stance displaying that he would be ready to lash out at any moment would the man come any closer.
'Regardless of what happens now. I have won. The stone has been awakened.' He thought and waited to see what choice Aliseth would make.
The Lunarian royal guard just stood there dumbfounded, tense, ready.
Brows furrowed in a mix of confusion and concern.
"What in the moonless sky are you babbling about now?" He demanded.
"Just tell me..." He interrupted his own words with a soft snort, the serious tone draining from his voice as a smirk took his lips. His posture relaxed and his eyes filled with an amused curiosity.
"Madman or not, I guess even a broken time piece is right twice a day. It matters not if you know what I am, what I have become. What that bastard did to me after killing Able." his empty hand clenched into a fist of anger but his tone remained jovially sly.
"Maybe I could now pass the blessing on to you???" He ask playfully, almost seductively.
"Maybe if I kill you in a similar fashion you will comeback as one of us?" Aliseth asked, toying with the idea. He took a steady step forward, towards the open cage. As he did he reached into his armor and drew out a dagger. An Aurelian dagger. That crooked smile still hanging on his lips.
"But perhaps later, because I've already seen what happens here." He whispers hauntingly, no longer looking at the prisoner but the knife in his hand instead.
Then without warning the guard lunged forward only to throw his face into the iron bars beside the door, there was a loud ‘
Crack’ and a spray of blood as his nose displaced under the impact.
But it didn't end there, just as quick, if not quicker than his first manoeuvre, using that blightborn speed, he threw himself backwards, crashing over the furniture where he hit the wall with a heavy thud. One eye already bloodshot, he looked at Gadez and grinned before slamming his head back hard into the solid stone behind him. He didn't even groan.
Slumped against the wall, with a bloody broken nose, he lifts the dagger, peering under the vertical steel blade hovering just above his eyes. Calmly he speaks to the recently imprisoned.
"You're a madman Gadez, there's no doubt about that. But something bigger is going on here and I intend to find out what and to what end. Sadly the only way out for you is through a guard. So, you defeated me. Consider it a parting gift for aiding in this investigation. It will be your first and last victory over me. Next time we meet, perhaps I will attempt to turn you afterall. I doubt it will work…but it might still be fun.” He said with a nonchalant shrug and a fond smile, before pressing the point of the blade into his skin above his left brow, a trickle of blood starting to flow.
"Goodbye Gadez. Now don't dally or this encounter might not end in your favour afterall.” He says with an ominous threat.
"And when you meet back up with ever is helping you. Tell them I am coming for them. Be it the prince or that other guard Daphne, I will learn the truth.” It was almost silent, almost. The steel edge of the Aurelian dagger sliding through flesh, separating it, the tip of the blade catching the soft skin of the eyelid and scratching across the eye on its path from brow to lip. He even added a flick of the weapon at the end to properly mimic the attack. Making not even so much as a gasp as he carved his own face, one good eye fixed on Gadez the whole time.
Gadez had simply observed as Aliseth had inflicted physical damage to himself, the blond man's head tilting slightly to the side with an expression that had simply read 'Oh?'. The man clearly felt no pain, and the loss of blood didn't seem to worry him. Blightborn indeed. Yet many blightborn were prone to injuries, while this particular one seemed not to worry. Perhaps he indeed did possess quite the metabolism. High metabolism often came with an increased need for food.
"You would label me a madman after hurling yourself about and making a bloodied mess. Well, perhaps you are correct. After all only a madman would know the truths of a maddened world. As for passing on that blessing of yours, I bear a far greater curse than the blight. Blood of a starry line, the same as the emerald gazed prince. That man is my younger brother, of course he wouldn't believe it, I wouldn't want to believe it either. But unfortunately the truth is merciless. Yet knowing that, would you still seek it?
Look for those who came here to study the blight. The sages. But like the royals they've all been deceived. This cure they may be looking for isn't a cure for death, but rather what awaits them is a wellspring of divine power. Ready to be grasped by whomever is willing to take such a plunge. Aelios as a deity is dead. As dead for everyone now as she has always been to me. But when one power is put out, another often comes along to claim its place..." The blond smirked and approached the doorway to his cell, his arms still raised, his blue eyes watching Aliseth closely.
"Defeated you hm? Hnn..hnn... you defeated yourself, long before you came to Dawnhaven. To lose track of the path ahead may be bad, but to lose track of who you are is far worse. Perhaps the cure you are looking for is within yourself?. As a parting gift of my own, I shall... enlighten those outside in a warm manner, however those two you speak of are no allies of mine it would appear. I wouldn't dally if I were you neither, seize the moment that I shall provide or it may slip through your fingers.
Unless you intend to strike me from behind? If not, then til we meet next, turnskin. Do make certain to be at your top form if you intend to fight me, I would hate to have a hollow victory. No doubt you feel the same?" Gadez softly smiled and stepped outside of the cell, gradually turning towards the corridor leading to the door to the outside, his gaze still lingering over his shoulder.
The blond man took a few steps forwards, his arms still raised before his chest, would Aliseth indeed attack him while his back was turned.
'A malkin attacks when its foe looks elsewhere. Yet lynxes eat them. But you are a wolf aren't you? We'll see...'Something within Gadez’s string of words had landed with Aliseth, resonating with him as he remained still and thoughtful, a faint smirk on his lips and showing no signs or intentions of moving. He would gain nothing from killing Gadez, he Knew he could, but now he didn't think he even wanted to. He simply watched as the man cautiously left.
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