by Icaelus » Thu Mar 17, 2016 7:47 pm
What does one see, when awakening from the dark of a dream? Light. You see naught but light..
She awoke in the bed of white flowers, her sense of touch first to return to alert her to the fact that she was well and indeed, alive. The Huntress sat up, relinquishing the actually rather comfortable bed of crushed flowers. Well, she thought it was comfortable, but sleeping on flattened plant matter was much, much better than leaning against whatever sturdy-looking boulder her auto-zombie self had deigned to rest against that week.
Her long, white eyelashes fluttered open to reveal a pair of striking crimson eyes. She threw out her arms over her head in an experimental stretch. Yep, everything was A-OK. Even the Kynareth Repeater was fine. Whatever had brought them here, it was certainly a thousand times more considerate than the damn letter that had made her walk the march of the living dead to Ryunia.
"..Would've been nice if they'd just let me read the letter from the start.."
A muttered complaint escaped her lips as she pushed herself off her butt, picking up the rifle at her side as she did so. A cursory glance around didn't tell her much. The field of the snow white flowers stretched further than the eye could see and beyond that, it was darkened by a gray fog that blocked all vision. Still, it was possible to make out several incredibly long pillars that reached out far into the sky, past where the human eye could discern. What was their purpose? She had no idea..
Anyway, it was time to get down to business. Whatever had brought them here, it was going to be powerful. Having a spell that could control her like that, along with that teleportation spell or whatever it was? That was some serious magic right now. She doubted most of the Hunters specializing in the Arcane arts would even know what had happened right there..
She stood there in the field of flowers, letting the atmosphere of the place itself wash over her as she took in a deep breath. She actually had a pretty good idea of what this place was. Tales about this place were actually rather common, famous among the Hunters. Graham had regaled her with a tale or two in the peaceful days they had shared.
The Hunter's Dream..was it? If this was it..then there would be no need to raise arms against the Keeper, the being that stood watch over the Dream. Not that it would do any good against such a powerful being, of course. She did still value her life more than anything else, after all.
Her attention was turned to a small figure striding steadily through the field of flowers. Ah, the owl-masked girl. Seemed like she had an idea of what was going on..or perhaps she'd even already met the Keeper itself? Either way, it was clear that she was here to greet them. With her suggestion of not trying to kill the Keeper before they'd spoken to it, the Huntress introduced herself as Mayari. A Strix..? A Hunter of Hunters, she meant.
Which also meant that if she ever fell to the Beast scourge..this little one here would be the one to end it all for her. A morbid thought.
Shaking away that very thought, Sylvia remained uncharacteristically silent, simply following Mayari back to where she led them. Treading a path through the sea of white flowers, the quartet soon arrived at their destination; a large, seemingly normal-looking house in the midst of the sea of white. Before the building sat the Keeper, along with a woman, clad entirely in the radiance of a brilliant, pure white. Everything, literally everything was white with that woman. From every singular strand of hair on her head to the smooth, pristine skin of her body.
Syl considered herself decent-looking, but the woman's sheer elegance blew her away. Even that blindfold which covered her eyes..she had a feeling that if removed, it would only reveal a pair of brilliant whites. Tearing her attention away from the woman, she focused on the Keeper, a seemingly normal human male. Tales of the Keeper had let her imagine that they could be anything from fellow Hunters to even the most savage of Beasts.
Let's just say she was really glad that it was the former for their case. Being at least able to breach the barrier of communication solved many problems. Her crimson eyes narrowed, focusing upon Keeper's image.
He was certainly a rough-looking individual, with his long, rather unkempt black hair and beard..but handsome, definitely. Handsome with quite a roguish charm. But what couldn't leave her mind was that gaze of his. Those piercing orange eyes that stared through her soul for miles. It felt like as if with just one look, he would know every single little thing about you. There would be no hiding of secrets from this man, this seemed certain at the time..
She suppressed a shiver, but was unable to prevent the chill that crawled down her spine as the Keeper rose from his seat, striding purposefully towards them with a big grin on that roguish face. He counted their numbers with much cheer, although once he had clapped eyes on the Hunter Randolph, things certainly took a weird turn.
Beetroot..BEETROOT?!
Syl shot a quick glance at Randolph, suppressing laughter but still ultimately failing to conceal a trembling smile as Keeper laid his very obviously embarrassing nickname out for all to hear. Who even gets nicknamed after a root vegetable..? That was probably an achievement of sorts!
Her internal laughter died in favor of seriousness as the Keeper spoke of Randolph's wife..it certainly seemed like she had entered this very Dream before..and had woken from it. And hopefully they would, too. There was no point in staying in a dream, even in one as pleasant as this.
A gentle humming from the woman in white caused the Keeper to wince sharply. Syl frowned at this action. Could the woman not speak? And it was like..she could communicate with the Keeper just through that hum? Curious.
As she was pondering this fact, the Keeper walked up close enough to touch her. Her breath catching in her throat, she nearly forgot to breathe for a moment as the man spoke, firstly introducing himself as Keeper..the keeper. Yeah. Guess names weren't too important for him. Sure. Keeper's cool. Sounds good.
The second phase of his speech answered an age-old question; whether if any Hunter had ever achieved immortality. One had, and he was standing right before their very eyes.
Syl finally remembered to breathe at this point, taking in a lungful of air with an audible gasp. She frantically waved away the Keeper's cursory glance at the source of the noise, a little red-faced from embarrassment. But mostly it was that she couldn't stand being looked at by those burning orange eyes..
Keeper would finally go on to explain that this was indeed the infamous Hunter's Dream, something that she'd already guessed at. Nice to know she was right. But the topic of Mistress was an interesting one. These..Blood Echoes? Harnessing them? It was a topic unfamiliar to her, despite having studied much of the Hunter's ways under Graham's tutelage. But then again, Graham had never entered the Dream..or had he? It had been said that there hadn't been enough left of the man to bury, much less an actual corpse..but what if he had entered the Dream? He could..still be alive, couldn't he?
It was a foolish hope and Sylvia knew it, but..one could Dream.
When she had finally broken away from her thoughts, the Keeper was just moving away, his hand resting gently upon Mayari's head. She couldn't explain why, but somehow..that small action invoked a little shard of jealousy deep within Syl's thoughts.
Shaking that persistent niggling away, Sylvia took a moment to compose herself. This definitely wasn't normal for her. Just..what the heck? Was she actually attracted to this guy? This was hardly the place or time for crap like this..
"Get it together, girl. Don't muck around."
She grumbled to herself as Keeper continued his explanation, along with laying out a plan of action on where they should start taking back the city from. The militia armory did seem a good place, for sure. It would be a secure location to defend, alongside a place where they would be able to replenish their quicksilver bullets and whatever else they could need. Truly a wise choice for their first conquest.
With that being said, the Keeper returned to his chair, dismissing them to their own actions. Stay if you had something to inquire, or leave for the waking world to take action..
Stay she would. She watched on, staying a respectable distance away from the Keeper and Mayari as they conversed. It wasn't polite to eavesdrop..and first impressions counted, didn't they? For what she was going to ask of the Keeper, that would be of a tantamount importance.
Alicia passed by her, headed for the tombstone that would lead to the waking world. A rather leery, amused grin was plastered to her face. It spoke volumes and had an immediate effect on Syl.
"I-It's not a competition, damn it!"
Her cry broke the tranquil silence of the dream, leaving her feeling rather guilty alone as Alicia trailed off to the rest of the Hunters gathered around the tombstone.
Blazes. That was embarrassing. And no bloody doubt they all heard her, Keeper and Mistress included. Why did this place have to be so damn silent? Oh, hell.
Her internal mumble was soon cut off as the Keeper finished with Mayari, patting her once again on the head before seating himself back into his chair. And once again, that small action sparked that small shard of jealousy within her..
Biting down against that annoying feeling, Sylvia calmly walked up to the Keeper, nodding her acknowledgement to Mistress before returning her attention to the dozing Keeper. Uh..was he asleep already? Really?
"Um..Sir Keeper? Apologies for waking you up again."
Syl began with an apology to the man. Well..it seemed appropriate? She did hate being woken up when she had just gone to sleep. Keeper probably shared that same feeling. She eyed his hand, grasping the handle of his buried weapon firmly even in his sleep. Hopefully he didn't see the need to dispatch the tormentor of his dreams?
She gulped nervously before beginning to speak again.
"I would be honored if one as experienced as you could..instruct me in the ways of Blood Wielding? It would be a massive help to our endeavor to retake Ryunia and to end the Night, sir."
Syl spoke as politely as she could, trying to remember what Graham had taught before. She was sure that the Keeper knew a few good tricks..after all, while it was said that you couldn't teach an old dog new tricks..it was probably because they already knew all the best ones.
"Please, Keeper?"
Syl bent, offering a small bow to show her sincerity. It definitely helped that the Keeper's burning eyes were closed..that dizzying gaze of his did things to her, jeez. She straightened up, folding her arms in wait of his reply.
Sleep unbeknownst to I, this one lives in perpetual need of coffee..