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    1. Marrakt 9 yrs ago

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Name: Merrill
Race: Human
Profession: Ranger
Age: 18



Personality:

Merrill is a grave young man that carries the world on his shoulders. He rarely speaks, and when he does so, it is with the barest minimum words that he can use to convey his meaning. He is a thoughtful young man, who takes the time to think about every situation from every possible angle. He is very hesitant to take action, and will only do so when he has considered the action and its possible consequences as far as he can.

One thing that he takes great pains to conceal from others are his abilities as a seer. He is very, very painfully aware that such abilities of divination and foresight, if discovered would lead to his instant execution with no questions asked because of the fears of magic. Because of this, Merrill is well aware of the fact that he is not just in danger himself, but he is also potentially a danger to everyone else around him, if his talent was to ever be discovered. Only a select few trusted souls know of Merrill’s secret.

Merrill’s goal and driving obsession is to learn more of his abilities as a seer. Primarily, he needs and wants to learn to control the talent, so he can tap into it and use it at will rather than have the ability take him at the most inopportune moments. On the odd occasion, he will go into a trance and seemingly lose control of his body - at these times he will speak in riddles and rhymes, often telling of an event still to happen, predict the weather, or divine some other obscure bit of information about another person that nobody else would know. When this passes he has no memory of the event afterwards. Merrill’s biggest fear is that this will happen when he is around the others as something like that would cause his own imminent doom.

That is why above all else, he needs to learn to control his ability.

In addition to this, there is a certain amount of bitterness inside of Merrill in regards to his ability. Whereas most people would see an ability to tell the future as a blessing, to Merrill it is a curse. There is no worse fate in all the world than to know what is about to happen and know that you can do nothing at all to change it. To speak to a man and know he will die in the week, to know that two lovers are fated to split and be apart. To know your own destiny and have no control over it - there is nothing worse than that.

However, it is not all secrecy and gloom for Merrill. He is very loyal to his friends, and although he can count the number of his true friends on the fingers of one hand and still have fingers left over those friends he does have he will die for. But because of his secret, he will not learn to trust easily, and will not trust anyone unless he has absolutely no reservations of their intentions and believes that they will not betray him. In that way, he is perhaps overly cautious and maybe, just maybe, a tiny bit paranoid.

Background:

Merrill was born in a small village near to Edsel, off the coast. Merrill was born the son of a travelling band of gypsies, and until his teenage years he was reasonably content with his life.

Until his latent "talent" manifested itself.

Over the next couple of years, Merrill’s abilities became more and more prominent, and it became difficult to hide them. Eventually, it was Merrill’s elder brother, Onlaron, who discovered the truth first. Onlaron did not share Merrill’s fascination with it, and was in fact horrified. Although he did not tell anyone, he tried to swear the young Merrill to an oath of secrecy, impressing upon the impressionable youth how important it was to keep his ability secret. Merrill, not really understanding his brother's urgency, nevertheless agreed anyway, wanting to keep the peace.

However, some things would not be kept a secret, no matter how hard one tried. Merrill’s family discovered the truth. His father turned the boy out, with nary enough food to last a week. Such was the fear and prejudice that one was met with in these times. And so it was that young Merrill left his home, friendless and alone, with no place in the world.

Fate would bring young Merrill to the village of Edhel, chased by dark shadows that he did not understand, but that he suspected wanted him for his strange power, and it was there he met Callie.......

Strengths:
  • Expert Hunter and Tracker
  • Physically Strong
  • Swordsman
  • Stealthy


Weaknesses:
  • Cold and distant - having been turned out by his kin has changed Merrill. He does not trust and he keeps himself distant from others.
  • Paranoia - In that it’s not paranoid to think everyone is out to get you when, in fact, everyone is out to get you
  • Fear of magic
  • Out of his depth. Merrill is, to be polite, out of his depth. Despite his outward demeanour suggesting otherwise, he is not ready for the world to be thrust upon him.


Powers:
  • Mental Alarm (upcoming danger - limited by range)
  • Animal Handling
  • Animal Friendship
  • Animal Companion
  • Augury
  • Seer Sight (divining an objects past by touching it)
  • Foraging (inhospitable terrain)
  • Endure harsh conditions
  • Endure deadly conditions
  • Limited Foresight (1/day)
Callie didn't listen to Merrill as he called after her. She was too focused on the fact that the people she cared about, the people who raised her, are in danger!

When she managed to reach the outside of the ruin, and get to the point where she could see all of Edhel, she gasped. All of it was aflame. This only spurred her to run into the village and see how many people she can get out of there. As she down the hill, she saw a creature flying above Edhel, and it unleashed a breath of ice, before hurling a ball of fire.

By the time she got to the bottom of the village, she found that it was too late. Many were already dead, and the destruction was all around her. As she took in the destruction and the screams all around her, Merrill's words come back to her.

"So now it comes....Death"

Did...Did Merrill know this was going to happen?

...Did he cause this?

She then heard laughter and a wicked voice speak, while baleful eyes looked upon her.

"You. I recognize you little one,"

How could such a creature recognize her?! She never saw such a thing before. Now wasn't the time to ask such a question though. She knew that she needed to take cover before she gets killed. She ducked into a hut that remained intact despite being on fire. The creature threw a ball of fire at the house, and it explodes.

At first it would seem as though Callie's demise was imminent. However, when the debris, smoke, and clear, the creature would be able to see that Callie is still alive. She was indeed hurt if the small burn on her arm was of any indication. But now, her eyes were obscured by white light, and she was now floating above the ground, with an aura, similar to a rainbow, surrounding her. Her magic had gone beyond a simple surge. It was as though all of the times she hid the magic from everyone around her, had come back in full force.

Callie could be heard, clearly struggling against this impressive force of magic that is currently lashing out, "No...! NO...! NOOOOOO!!!!"

A pink spark appears first, and illusory butterflies and flower petals appear around Callie. Then another spark appeared. This time, this spark seemed to match the aura and caused said aura to intensify and grow stronger. Then a third spark appeared. This time the spark was white and when it landed on the ground it seemed to bring forth a creature. The creature resembled a horse with a pure white coat, but it had a horn on its head.

While the aura continued to shine around Callie, the horse looked to her and the creature. Despite the pain and the surge of magic coursing through her veins, she can hear a different voice. It was coming from the horse! But the mouth wasn't moving.

"Child...you cannot save anyone here. The least I can do, is protect you from this blight,"

Then horse bowed its head and the horn began to radiate a light. This light engulfed Callie and said horse, before it disappeared. Callie and the horse were no longer in the same spot.

The unicorn had teleported Callie and itself a mile from the village, back onto the hill where Callie had once stood. Not far from the ruins Merrill led her too.

Despite being away from the creature, the magic surge continued. Callie is still floating above the ground and the colored aura, along with the illusory butterflies and flower petals, are still surrounding her.
Callie turned to run, back the way she came. Merrill started to shout to her.

”Callie, wait! Not like this! We need to know what we are up against!”

But she was already moving away. ”Goddammit, impetuous girl,” Merrill cursed as he took a step forwards.

His vision was flooded with images, images dizzying with their intensity.... As he stepped forwards, he lost his balance, falling to one knee even as Callie jumped out of the exit and began running towards her own village.

He saw a colossal winged creature. It flew over Edhel. As the terrified villagers ran, it laughed as it opened it cavernous jaws..... From its breath it came out, a sheet of the purest cold. As it engulfed those poor victims that it caught within they froze, turning blue as their forms became nothing more than statues of pure ice.

But ice wasn’t it’s only power. It opened the palm of its hand as it unleashed a ball of fire. The fire streaked through the village, striking.....exploding in a gout of flames as the people died, caught within this crescendo of fire and ice.

Into this chaos she came.....Callie. She ran through the streets, trying to block out the horrific screams. Trying to ignore the creature as it turned its baleful eyes on her.

“You. I recognise you little one,” it’s voice is both deep and terrible.

Callie....she ran into a house. A house that was on fire. Seconds later, the terrible creature laughed again as it threw a ball of fire into the house. It explodes into a fiery inferno......

Shaken, as the dizzy spells hit him fast and hard Merrill fell, landing hard on the floor. On his leg, the stitches tore and blood started to pour from the reopened wound. Next to him, the globe of light bobbed up and down.

Merrill looked to it in desperation. ”Go,” he hissed. ”Go to her. Light her path. I will follow......go NOW!”

The globe of light suddenly shot through the air, heading out of the ruined vessel, travelling after Callie as fast as he could.

Merrill leaned over, gasping as black spots exploded over his eyes. He reached out....grasping fingers scrabbling to grab the black object he had liberated from the skeleton.

”Gods help us,” he whispered to himself as he tried to drag himself down the narrow metallic corridor.....
Callie raised an eyebrow at his unfinished sentence. What did he want to say about himself? Instead of continuing, he just turned the chair around, and the sight caused Callie to gasp and take a step back. She looked back to Merrill when he apologized and she started to ask, with skepticism lacing her voice "What the heck? This is what you wanted to show me?! Why-?!"

Then he brought out a small black rectangular object and held it out to her. Before he could finish his statement though, the outside night sky suddenly lit up. That wasn't starlight, that was fire! Her eyes widened. She realized it.

Those flames where coming from Edhel.

With that realization, Calle shouted "NO! Aunt Jenny! Everyone!!!"

With the object forgotten, she started to dart out of the ruins. The object remained in Merrill's hand. She was intent on heading back to Edhel. She needed to save Aunt Jenny and everyone down there!!!

Bruenor, Freya, Guy!

Her heart pounded with fear and adrenaline,

Please! Please be okay! Don't die!"
Merrill shook his head softly. ”I don’t think any of us ever have that when fate comes for us. I.....”

He shook his head, never finishing the sentence. Slowly, Merrill turns the seat round.

The corpse that was on the seat was in an advanced state of decay. Whoever it was had once been human, butnthat humanness had long since disintegrated with the passage of time. Now there was nothing but bones. The man, or woman, whatever they were, stared at Callie and Merrill with two gaping and empty eye sockets. It’s lower jaw was snapped off, leaving the upper jaw and row of teeth only. The grotesque sight was completed when a centipede crawled out of its empty left eye socket and dropped to the floor.

”I’m sorry to show you this Callie, but it was this I needed you to see,”

Reaching slowly into the tattered and torn blue shirt that the skeleton was wearing, his hand went slowly into its pocket. He winced as his hand touched....things that he likely did not want to know what they were. Finally, he brought something out. It was a thin, black rectangular object. There were large, hair-line fractures running across its surface.

Looking to her, Merrill started to pass the object over, ”Here,” he said softly. ”Tell me it’s......”

The night sky outside the window suddenly exploded into flames in the distance. Merrill looked back as orange fire illuminated the night sky.

It came from where Edhel was......
Callie immediately noticed how the atmosphere around them seemed to have changed. She felt it. This structure was....calling to her? She could almost hear a voice saying that they only open at her wish.

...What?

A loud click echoed and the Will O' the Wisp was bouncing excitedly. There was this feeling that she was about to step into something unknown. That her life was going to change drastically once she stepped through. She watched as Merrill opened the door and stepped through, and he mentioned that only she could have opened the door with an unseen key.

This was definitely screaming magic now. Callie was ready to bolt if she needed to. But for now, she stepped through the door, and into the small cramped compartment, where two figures sat. She raised an eyebrow at his words. She didn't like this. But she needed to stay calm. She can't afford having her magic surge...and yet, it seemed like this guy already knew that she had magic.

When he asked if she was ready, she answered skeptically, "No, but it doesn't look like I have a choice, do I?"
She placed her hand over his own. Merrill, eyes closed, started to hum. And as Callie hummed, her own voice joined is. The strangest thing seemed to happen. Although there two tunes were different, the sound of their voices seemed to meld and join with each other. Two distinctly separate tunes became one whole sound. Something changed in the atmosphere around them. The heady, damp sensation of decay began to dissipate slightly.

For the briefest of seconds, it seemed to Callie almost as if this ruined structure......it was calling to her. It was imploring her.

It has been too long young one. You are the key. We open only at your wish.

A loud click echoed around them. The little globe of light bobbed up and down, almost as if it was excited....almost as if the two of them were about to open the door to a different world.....a different reality. And for Callie in particular, that was exactly what was about to happen. With a small smile, Merrill reached down, opening it. In the light reflected from the Will o’the Wisp, the faint outline of scars could be seen traced across his slightly tanned skin.

”I could not open the locked door Callie, but you could,” Merrill’s voice was low, almost as if he didn’t want to disturb the sanctity of this place. ”But you could......you opened a door without a key.”

There could be no doubt. She was the one.

Merrill stepped forwards. ”......at least without a key that can be seen.”

The compartment beyond was in even more of a state of disrepair than the one they had left. At the front was what appeared to be some sort of desk.....and on that desk sat.......metal? Lots of metal, some with long, thin lines trailing down them onto the floor. This metal, there were large orange splotches on the surface where it looked like the metal had corroded. In front of the desk were two large chairs, on which two shadowy forms sat in front of, their forms slumped over the metal.

”Callie.....what you are about to see will change things, forever. But it is necessary for what is to come.”

Stepping forwards, he lay a hand on the shoulder on one of the forms. He looked back to her.

”Are you ready?”
Callie was glad that she got an answer regarding the light, but she was a little annoyed that she didn't get an answer to her second question. However, the Will O' the Wisp did bring up more questions. How did Merrill know what this was? Why was he not afraid of it?

The questions were mounting and all of them seemed to have the same answer, which set Callie on edge. She didn't want to believe it, but the answer made sense. Still, she was not about to just leave on suspicion alone.

She followed him and his Will O' the Wisp down, following his footsteps and being careful of where she stepped. She stopped when Merrill did and she looked at the rectangular object when he picked it up. She didn't have an answer. She simply tilted her head in wonder. What was it used for? Then there was a square object that opened and had strange nodes and other features. Then there was a knife like object.

She didn't really know how to answer his comment about how he wished he knew more about them. She commented "It's too bad there doesn't seem to be a journal around..."

She then looked to the final door that Merrill gestured to, and she approached it. She watched as he listened before rapping on it. Then he tried to open it, but it didn't work. She raised an eyebrow when he said that he needed her help, and she became even more confused when he gave her the strange directions on how she could help.

She commented as she walked forwards, "I don't know how that's going to help, but ok..." She then placed her hand over his. Her hand was warm and she took a silent moment to try and think of a tune. Honestly, she also wondered how this was going to work. Chances are that the two of them are going to think of two different tunes...

But again, she said she would help. So she started humming to a tune that came to her mind just as he began to hum softly.
”Its called a Will O’the Wisp. Its a creature from the old world Callie. I have to be careful about who I show it to as anyone who did not understand magic would destroy it the moment they saw it, believing it to be a plague-bringer. We have travelled together for a couple of years now, and he has always lit my path in the darkness. In turn, I protect him from those who would do him harm.”

Merrill did not answer her other question as he carefully threaded his way down the metallic passageway, covering his nose and mouth with his hand from the smell of mildew that permeated the air here. He walked carefully, treading carefully over certain parts of the strange metallic chamber that seemed particularly rotted.

Finally, following their slow and painstaking progress, the two of them reached the bottom of the cabin. With a small smile, Merrill gestured for Callie to come over near to him. He showed her some strange looking items on the floor. Merrill picked up one, a strange rectangular object of a material and texture that he had never seen before. He bent it slightly, a look of curiosity forming on his face as he watched the light from the Will O’the Wisp dance and refract on its polished surface.

"What do you think this was used for?" he didn't really expect an answer to the question, but he whispered one anyway as he passed it over to Callie.

Then, he took a second object, his eyes lighting up in fascination as he opened what looked to be a corroded metal box. The hinges squeaked slightly, angry from the sudden, harsh movement, and he looked at the cracked glass within. Placing a hand on the surface, he touched it, tapping the glass several times before passing his fingers down on the square, rubbery shapes on the bottom slab. Placing pressure on them, he pushed them down gently before closing it down again. This too he placed gently next to Callie.

Finally, he took a plastic, knife shaped object, turning it around in his hands, marvelling at how feather-light it felt in his hands, if not particularly sturdy. He placed it gently on the floor, next to the other objects.

"What stories I bet these objects tell. I wish I knew more about them."

He gestured finally towards the door at the very end of the metallic corridor. Walking up to it, he turned his head and placed his ear to the door, almost as if listening for a sound.

Nothing.

Not that he expected to hear anything. Making a fist, Merrill rapped on the surface of the door lightly. It let off a hollow thunk, indicating that there was another chamber beyond it. Reaching out slowly, tentatively, he pushed the door handle down, trying to open it.

Nothing.

Stepping back, he surveyed the door, before looking to Callie.

"I cannot open it alone, but perhaps with your help....."

Placing his hand over the lock again, Merrill stood there with his back to her.

"I need you to trust me Callie. Place your hand over mine. Think of a tune in your head, and begin to hum to it. I will do the same, but I need you to join your voice with mine."

Closing his eyes, he began to hum softly. The globe of light hovered near him as he did so.
Callie honestly couldn't tell if Merrill bought her excuse or not. She rubbed the back of her head when he said that she was stronger than she looked. She led the way in and Merrill had followed her in.

When he asked, she nodded and answered, somewhat jokingly to ease her own tension, "Sure...I mean, it's not like there's going to be treasure in here,"

After opening that door, she could feel it. The magic she worked so hard to suppress. There was now more of a chance that it will act and surge on its own in front of this guy now.

She watches as Merrill takes a step forward and she noticed how his expression turned grave when he turned to face her. She raised an eyebrow and she answered, "O...kay? I won't tell a soul," Even if she wasn't sure about Merrill, she was a woman of her word. She wasn't going to tell anyone.

She watched as he pulled out a small orb of light from his pocket and it came to life, rising and floating above his palm. It seemed to obey Merrill when he told the light to light their path. Callie looked back to Merrill after it moved ahead of them. Before she could answer his question, he had already started descending further down into the darkness.

Against every fiber of her being telling her to leave, she decided to follow him anyways. As she did, she asked "Hey, wait a minute! What is that light? And what do the secrets here have to do with what you wanted to show me?"

Callie was so confused. And she had a feeling that she won't get her answers until they found the secrets of this contraption.
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