[Location The Temple of Jalat] What is it with you Anyway? (open)

[Vincent Stefan]

Day 26 of the month of Ioannes, in the Season of Summer, Era II of the Celestine Mandate, Era XIV Post Fractum, the Second Era of the Regency of Milo L'Evienne.

It had been two day's since Vincent and his men had entered the city. This place called Vortex was strange in it's own right. Besides the obvious, Vincent had thought the city would be filled with darkness, tangible, legible darkness. Yet, what the half elf had found was a city not unlike any in the empire. The only difference was the fact that there was no Imperial presence here at all. Something, Vincent was surprised to find he was happy for the lack of.

Though for all it's posture and presence, there was one place here the half elf felt drawn to go too, yet he had no idea why. Now here he stood in front of a large, black structure with no idea why he was here or what had drawn him to it. The floors where black marble, the walls and windowless archways seamed to project power, yet nothing in the buildings structure hinted at to who's temple this was or why.

Standing there, Vincent absently reached a hand up to stroke the head of his pet raven Shadow, who was perched on the half elf's shoulder. The bird, too and somehow felt the call as well. Normally Shadow would have been looking about itself, it's red eyes taking in all of it's surroundings. Yet, in the presence of this building even the Raven's eyes were drawn strait ahead. He wanted to go in, and Vincent could not help but feel the same.

With a chuckle, the half elf made to step forewords, and froze mid step. Something in him yelled, cried for him to stop, turn back. Vincent, felt it like a tug at his heart. For some odd reason, Vincent heard the voice of his grandparents, There obsessive taunting "So much like his father." However, when the half elf had asked for them to elaborate they said nothing. Now they were dead, and he would never know. That thought, steeled the half elf's mind and he contiued to step forewords and into the structure.

Behind Vincent walked his men, Vencenti, Ssavatt and Greggo. Greggo remained as he always did, quite thoughtful. Ssavatt appeared apprehensive, scared almost. Only, Vencenti seamed to be enjoying himself. This was of course the crazy elf's home town. Vincent had been tempted to ask the crazy knife thrower what this building was, but something in the buildings way, Vencenti's manner and the feeling of familiarity said all the half needed to know. This was a temple devoted to the dark god Jalat. It had to be, The building was simliar to that one...so long ago.

With a flash it all came back The mad man, his mission. Vincent had helped the man to clear, clean and rebuild a temple just like this one in Abestat. Turning Vincent brought his eye to bare, on Ssavatt. the bow man was tariffed now, it was obvious..."Greggo" Vincent thought his voice was just a whisper, but the man soon turned to him. "sir" Said the swords man. "Take Ssavatt out of here, wait for me and Vencenti to come out...we..will be fine." Ordered the half elf, Greggo made to object but then thought better, his own dislike of this place showing. With a nod the swords man turned and escorted Ssavatt out of the entrance again.

There where only so many soul's the half elf was willing to taint and those two where not among them. Vincent had to know, had to find out why he felt this way about the dark god. What had happened back then, why did he always feel calm in cemetery's...and why was it that every time he was near a reference to the dark god's everything aways became clear....yet nothing did.

[Kalinda]

It was cold inside the Temple of Jalat, as if it were winter rather than summer, as if life itself had been banned from this place. Mist lingered everywhere, in every corner, every niche, between all the columns. The temple was cast into a perpetual twilight, and it was quiet. Even in the late hours of the darkening when the priests celebrated their mass it was quiet, as if those black marble walls swallowed any sound. Vicent would discover that the sound of his footsteps was barely audible.

This was a place of death. The living were only tolerated here, that was clear from the first moment on. People came here to honor the dead, to pray for the dead and not for the living.

A few candles had been placed on the altar, but otherwise there was no light. At the moment the temple was almost empty. A single woman was sitting on the bench closest to the altar. Her head was covered by a hood. She was dressed in dark colors, and her hand were folded in prayer. She noticed neither Vincent nor his companion. A dead chicken was lying in front of her, on the floor in front of the altar, a sacrifice for some people believed that Jalat would be more likely to answer them if they gave him blood –or souls, even if they were just the souls of animals.

From another part of the temple singing could be heard. The priests of Jalat never rested. They spent day and night honoring their god in whatever way they could. But Vincent would not be able to understand what they were singing about now. They were too far away. But what he would be able to notice was that the song was oddly melancholic, and yet it was comforting …

[Vincent Stefan]

Vincent, found himself at peace here in the sanctuary of the death god. Taking each step one at a time the half elf moved threw the temple, as if in a daze. Singing could be heard in the distance. Yet, no words came...only the soft music of a person who was proclaiming there love to a god.

on the alter just in front of an alter prayed a woman. Her form one of devotion. on the alter was a dead animal, it's insides cut out. This was a sacrifice, to obtain some type of request. Yet, Vincent had never believed in such sacrifices. Not because of what they where, but because the half elf never believed the god would care.

It was strange, The half elf knew he should be disturbed by all this....and there was something in the back of his mind that said just that. Yet, at the same time The need in him, the want to know drove him onwards. Taking two more steps...Vincent realized he had no idea where he was going, it was as if his feet where no longer guided by his will. All the half elf could do was see where things would lead.

[Kalinda]

It was not so strange that Vincent found himself at peace inside the temple for death was the ultimate kind of peace, complete peace that would never be disturbed. Only in death could a soul truly rest. The world was ever chaotic, ever-changing. The gods of Aetheria and Aeternia were constantly at war. Jorel was treacherous and unpredictable, Haya only driven by lust, Meephos by the entirely of his emotions, Diana who had so many followers in the Empire was arrogant beyond measure and Ioannes, the three faced good, a blind fool. Jalat was the only one that was not driven by such petty emotions. He stood above them, was always in control. He stood for calm and neutrality, for that which was and that which would be.

It was cold inside the temple, but the cold was no unpleasant. Some claimed that it helped them concentrate, that it made them aware of the things that truly mattered, that in the end the only thing that was certain was death. The cold, the mist, the absence of any loud sounds helped to set the temple apart from the outside world and make it special, truly a sanctuary, a place where the chaos that ruled the rest of Telath did not matter.

The woman who sat in front of the altar never looked up as Vincent entered the temple. It was as if she did not notice him – or maybe he just didn’t matter to her. Maybe the only thing that mattered to her were Jalat and the things she prayed for.

Vincent’s feet seemed to move on their own will. It seemed as if he was not in control any longer, as if there was somebody else pulling his strings. Jalat? One of the priests? Or had he simply gone mad? No matter what was happening, he found himself walking deeper into the temple, past the altar room, through long, empty hallways. Once he passed an open door. He could see priests and priestesses in the room behind, their heads bent over something large and bloody, a sacrifice most likely. In another room a little boy sat on the floor, praying.

Finally he found himself facing a door, a large black door, not unlike the one through which he had entered. It showed a hooded man, standing in a boat. A raven was sitting on his shoulder. The boat was floating on a river, not a river of water, but a river made of the ghosts of the damned.

[Vincent Stefan]

Travel, it's interesting how much peaple never think of it. When there feet take them places sometimes without allowing a second thought to it. Yet, now the half elf was very aware that his feet would not follow his commands. Though in truth, Vincent wanted to know where he was going...it was also disturbing not knowing where he was going too.

Passing door after door, the half noticed peaple praying. Paying homage to a god, who most likely would never even give them a second thought. Even so Vincent envied them..they had found something to believe in, Something to hold onto. They knew there beginnings, there past and one day they would face there future. Vincent only knew he existed, he had no idea beyond that, as if all reality was a dream and soon the dreamer would wake snuffing the half elf out of existance.

A sort of melancholy fell over the two me as they contiued there track through the sanctuary of the death god. Vincent could not help but feel cold...the building practically radiated with it, a feeling of comforting cold..like a chilling breeze on a hot day, or the cold feel on a nice drink. It traveled thew the sanctuary as if carried by a breeze, yet there was no wind.

Soon the two men came to a door, it's black surface held a depiction of a dark figure on a boat that was carried by the souls of the lost. Shadow who had been quit up until now, soon let out a yell of his own..more then likely reacting to the fact that the figure had a raven on his shoulder as well. Slowly at first Vincent reached his hand out to open the door...it was strange...he felt as thought to open the door was to let all those souls out, to free all that was held beyond...or was it he just wanted to free his own soul. Shaking his head, to clear that thought the half elf's hand finally reached the door's handle...and with a push...

[Kalinda]

With a push he opened the door – and found himself in a room that greatly resembled the altar room, but without benches. There was only the statue of the hooded man, standing atop the altar. A heavily embroidered piece of cloth had been draped across the altar. The room was only lit by a single candle, barely shedding enough light for him to be able to see his surroundings. Should he step across the threshold he would find that a thick layer of mist, semi-transparent white clouds covering him up to his knees. It was as cold as ice.

There was a person inside this room, a woman. As he entered, she turned around and approached him as if she had been waiting for him. She was a half elf, most likely half dark elf, with white hair and dark eyes, garbed in a black robe, a priestess. Long sleeves covered all of her hands apart from the fingertips that were red, covered with blood. The woman was neither old nor young. As with many of her kind it was hard to tell her age. She was not beautiful, but there was a certain wisdom in her eyes. She had seen a lot, been to a lot of places that he didn’t even know existed.

“I know you …” she whispered as if she was afraid to disturb the peace of this temple. “I knew the one who came before you …” She reached out to him, extended a hand with bloody fingers towards him as if she wanted to touch him.

[Vincent Stefan]

Opening the door was like walking into another world..Perhaps it was..The room beyond was lit by a single candle. It's flickering light a welcome item in a wold covered in mist and darkness. Stepping inside, Vincent felt as though he had walked into a winter landscape, the room was so cold.

Yet, even stranger was the mist coming from the very ground itself...rising up like some type of best to obscure much of the grounds below the half elf's feet. Directly in front of Vincent stood an alter, and beyond that a statue of presumably the same figure as was on the boat, in the mural on the door.

stepping further into the room, the half elf soon found he was not alone. Though Vincent knew Vencenti stood at the threshold of the room, another figure soon melted out of the mist in the floor, A priestess by the look of her. As she neared more of her features became clear, as did her half Dark elf ancestry. Walking up as if Vincent was an old friend the priestess looked directly in his eyes and began to speak, her voice small as if afraid to speak at all. "I know you ….....I knew the one who came before you …"

Vincent had never thought that simple words could cause a person to fear a situation...to be afraid simply out of knowledge..Yet, What the priestess said chilled him to the very bone, more so then the room could ever hope to do. What the half elf had thought to find when entering this building...even he had never thought it would be so blunt...So preset.....Was her words just a trick of his mind or did this person actually know who he was.

As she reached out to touch him...Vincent felt a thought in his mind to shy away to leave, to keep on living in ignorance..but the thought soon passed. "Who...Who came before me?." Began Vincent almost as afraid to speak as the priestess had been. "Who is it you speak off?"

[Kalinda]

„A man who looked almost like you“, the woman answered Vincent’s question. She was not really looking at him as she said this, and her voice seemed to come from far away. It possessed an almost dream-like quality. “He was a little older, and his eyes were different, but otherwise he could have been you. He came here every brightening to pray. Sometimes he brought sacrifices … great sacrifices … valuable ones. His love for death knew no limits …”

She touched his hands. Her own hands were cold – and wet from the blood that had to come from the sacrifice she had just made, the sacrifice that was nowhere to be seen.

“Why have you come?” she asked. “Why now, after all these patterns? We thought you were dead. They said she had killed you. How did you survive? Nobody can survive such a thing. They saw you, bleeding, they were with you as your heart stopped …” She turned away from him as if she couldn’t bear the memory. “Why are you here now? What do you want from me? I’m not sure if I can help you. My father would have been able to, but he’s dead … dead …”

[Vincent Stefan]

"A man who looked almost like you“ It was impossible,there was no way. All this time, so many dead ends. was it now that the half elf was to find the answer to a question that plagued him. "He was a little older, and his eyes were different, but otherwise he could have been you. He came here every brightening to pray. Sometimes he brought sacrifices … great sacrifices … valuable ones. His love for death knew no limits …" It had to be him, it had to be the person Vincent had been denied the right to meet, had been forced to never have a life because of...or was this his mothers fault. The more the half elf learned things just made less and less sense.

“Why have you come?” she asked. “Why now, after all these patterns? We thought you were dead. They said she had killed you. How did you survive? Nobody can survive such a thing. They saw you, bleeding, they were with you as your heart stopped …” Vincent could not deny it now, nor could he have if asked. This woman who stood before him spoke of the family Vincent had never known. The half elf had never once learned why his mother had killed, his father, or for that matter who and what they had been before that day. There where so many questions, so many possibility.

Working hard to keep his voice solid the half elf began, "The man you speak of, The man who came before...HE is dead now... He was my father...I presume the one who stopped his heart was my mother...she to is dead... Though, I am uncertain as to why...why did she do this.....who where they?" Vincent wanted to ask more, let every question he had ever thought of flow out. However, Vincent was no fool, from the look of his informant she was all together not there. Pulling out more information would be a steady process.

[Kalinda]

„He was a …“ The woman hesitated here, struggling to find the right word. This situation didn’t make any sense to her. She had been working in this temple for so long, had tried to fullfill Jalat’s mission for so long, seen so many unusual things, but never once had she seen somebody return from the dead, unless it was as a zombie, a disgusting, despicable thing. “He was a friend. No, not a friend for people like us can never have friend. He was an ally, one of my father’s and my companions, for part of the way at least. He was everything a follower should be … and more …”

“We told him no, to be careful with her, but he would not listen … he was blind. That was his biggest flaw, maybe his only one. He closed his eyes to the truth. He couldn’t see into people’s souls, not the way we can, took everything at face value. Such a fool, such an impossible, unforgivable fool …” The woman shook her head.

“She was a spy, some of my brothers and sisters said, although I never really knew here, sent to hurt us, meaning to betray us from the beginning. He thought she could be redeamed. He thought everybody deserved a chance. There is a reason people like us are never allowed to love, a reason why we let our hearts freeze to ice. Emotions are treacherous at the best of times, and Death has no need of them. He is above such things.”

“Why are you here?” she asked again. “You look like him, but if you do not know, if you never knew them, those that have brought you into this world, why have you come? Why didn’t know that you were alive, that you existed. We thought she had taken you with her. She said that no trace of him would remain in this world.”

[Vincent Stefan]

Vincent remained quit for a time....really what was there to say. He had know his mother had killed his father, but why, why had always made no sense. Now it was clear and the half elf found he was turning to the side of the man he had come to hate. When at last Vincent found his voice, it was small, less then what a man certain of his path would sound.

"I....I do not know why I am here. I have been drawn to sites that belonged to the god Jalat for many years, since I was born. Places like this...places of death, Cemeteries, places of rest.......My mother might have thought to remove any trace of my father...but she failed to keep her deeds unknown, They found her...tried her and sentenced her to death for what it was my mother had done...Yet, they found I was also there and so waited until I was born...then carried out the sentence."

Vincent found that his voice felt like it was an echo..a point in time that had once existed but was now no more then that... The half elf, wanted to know more..but in a bit of Irony had no idea as to what to ask. The truth had finally come out...but what was the point....where was he going to go, do , with such knowledge.

His one eye found it's way to the floor of the room and the fine mist that hung there....for some reason it gave the half elf comfort now, as though the very room was rapping him in it's essence. There was more to know, there was more to do.

[Kalinda]

„So there was justice in the end“, the woman said. She was pleased, pleased that this woman that had nearly destroyed them all had gotten what she deserved, but her face remained cool and neutral. Extreme emotions of any kind were unbecoming of a priestess of Jalat. „Who found her? And where? We looked for her as well, but there was no trace of her anywhere. After we found out that she had killed him, your father, we searched the whole city, but she already seemed to be gone. Nobody knew what had happened to her.“

„Drawn to sites that belong to Jalat … You are like your father. He was a little younger than you when he came to us. He always felt most comfortable here – until he met her and forgot his mission. What are you going to do with that knowledge, of who your father was? There will always be a place here for his son if that is what you want. Some of us would be happy to have you here. You are free to stay here, to learn. There is a unique kind of calm that can only be found in death, a certain kind of truth.“

[Vincent Stefan]

"Who found her? And where? We looked for her as well, but there was no trace of her anywhere. After we found out that she had killed him, your father, we searched the whole city, but she already seemed to be gone. Nobody knew what had happened to her." Vincent considered this for a moment, In truth he had no idea where it happened. He was too young, when he left the place to mark where it was on a map. Though, Chanilya felt familiar some how, perhaps...no it was impossible.

Shaking his head The half elf answered what he could. "My mother committed the deed in a public place, Or at least some place close to one. I don't know who found her, city guard, or passerby but whoever did sounded the alarm. My mother forced to carry me as well, could not escape. She was tried for the murder, imprisoned and when I was born executed. That is all I know.... That is until today." Vincent found he was satisfied by that. More satisfied then he cared to admit right now.

"Drawn to sites that belong to Jalat … You are like your father. He was a little younger than you when he came to us. He always felt most comfortable here – until he met her and forgot his mission. What are you going to do with that knowledge, of who your father was? There will always be a place here for his son if that is what you want. Some of us would be happy to have you here. You are free to stay here, to learn. There is a unique kind of calm that can only be found in death, a certain kind of truth." Vincent would have been denying his own mind if he said he did not want this in many ways. A chance to be in a place where he felt he belonged. It was a tempting thing, No for a long time...if ever had the half elf truly felt he was part of anything. From Abestat, to Archadoon, to Taralon to here he never belonged. Just went threw the motions of such.

Yet, he was also a Provost in the Imperial military. Such a commitment was not so easily walked away from. "If only I could, but my life to this point has always been a complicated one. I would like to be able to visit from time to time, to learn what I can. But, I can't do much more then that, I command the Chanilya fortress just outside these city walls. I am bound to it, as much as I am bound to sites of Jalat...I can not just walk away. Though, believe me I wish I could." With that the half elf went quit. He had said to much already, Or maybe not enough. Life was strange like that, and right now The feeling of comfort the half elf felt, was all he wanted.