Dark Shines

[unpopularprophet]

Dusk... Aleister's favorite time of day. Dusk is when the two halves of time are juxtaposed and our perceptions of reality are at their most subjective and least filtered. There was also the matter of the sunset Aleister was watching whilst cooling off from starting the cooking fire after a long days travel. The quartet was setting up camp for the night at the crest of a high tor in the middle of the opaque wood. The tor had a steep rock shelf on one side with a decent drop off to it. It was from here that Aleister observed the sunset over the pitch wood. The sunset resembled an inverted rainbow, with a red rim ringing the horizon about which hung a fiery orange, which was itself glistening below a glowing gold stripe above which hovered the broad band of pale green, like that of the clouds before a tornado, which was the last barrier before the deep blues and blacks of a soon to be night sky. The sunset was perfectly reflected in a bottomless black well of sparkling pupilous water, ringed by a scintillating grey-blue-green hazel iris wall. * Sigh.*
As Aleister strode the short way back to the others, he thought about the fire that waited. He smirked to remember the Lord Rahl's face as he had watched a potent magical being who could rain down death on a whim, warp flesh and bend minds... a being who gathered hemlock twigs for tinder, light sticks for kindling, and sturdier branches to arrange in loghouse formation to fuel and support the iron cooking pot. But the richest part was when Aleister used ordinary steel and flint to spark the fire, waited for it to build up, then "accidentally" dropped his boot knife in the heart of the flame... which he stuck his arm into and dug around until he had it, then pulled his arm out cool as morning mist. Aleister had insisted on starting the fire. He had told them certain rudiments of his history and capabilities, but the vast majority of Aleister remained enigmatic. This would have to change.
As if choreographed... which it might have been... as soon as he arrived back at camp, with the scent of simple venison soup in the air... the bear struck.
[Not half so good as what I had written earlier, sorry.]

[Lord Rahl]

In the darkness below the tree cover, the world exploded. A streak of red leather, the swishing of robes, and the deft movements of a well honed body all ignited in a flurry of motion. A protective semi-circle was instantly formed around him. He forcefully broke through it and threw up both hands. A brilliant, blinding flash of light erupted forth, with a deafening crack to match it. As the light abruptly faded away, leaving them in darkness once more, the giant beast charged forward, apparently unaffected.

"Arya! Stay back!"

The command was given too late, and the Mord-Sith ran to meet the bear halfway, ramming her Agiel into it's face. The impact stumbled her, sending her wheeling to the side. Eris threw lightning at it.
Nothing worked.

Deneric shot a look at Aleister, then rolled to the side to evade the charging creature.

[unpopularprophet]

The gargantuan beast, easily several times as large as the black bears Aleister had experience with, had shrugged off everything his companions had thrown at it. Aleister could have attempted blasting bolts of ether, but his preternatural impulse suggested this would be futile. Time was gone: Aleister had to act now, and he couldn't hold back, nor could he hesitate to use whatever means were at his disposal.
So he did not do something another kind of Wizard, another kind of Person, would have done. He drew his bone knife into his right hand and stuck it right through his left forearm. This creature was marked by Dark magic, and he knew how these magics worked: at a price. The creature had magic, and it was on this magic Aleister called, and with it forged a sympathetic link between the blood on the knife, and the bear's blood, and the magical aspect of it's killing urge. Aleister now essentially held the beast life force in his hand: it was now upon the sanguine knife Aleister's bright unlight shone, encasing the knife and a goodly portion of his arm in a half-inch thick and thickening layer of pure, diamond-hard, transparent ice.
The bear stopped dead in it's tracks, and began convulsing violently as it's bodily system's began to shut down, heart rate decelerating rapidly. Within ten seconds the beast collapsed, it's desperate breathing ragged, and it began to moan pitifully.
It was no hideous monster, really. If anything, it was quite magnificent, even whilst keening pathetically: the snout was far shorter in proportion as it would have been on a normal bear, just as it's legs were proportionally longer. Such legs! 'twas no puzzle to see how the bear had managed to strike with such celerity upon those long limbs. The fur was a dark brown, almost a brunette tone, with big brown eyes that were now fixed pleadingly on Aleister's glowing hazel.
Aleister carefully slowed the magic's progress, leaving the beast clinging tenuously in a barely balanced homeostasis. He turned to the Lord Rahl, while Arya, thankfully unhurt even if flustered, leapt to her feet and glared daggers at the animal.
"It was probably just hungry," Aleister said placatingly. "Magic finds it's way into wildlife in regions like these: I'd bet the rest of the blood in my arm that this is just a natural magical adaptation, and we were just here at the wrong place at the wrong time. Unless you object, I think I'll just let it stay in stasis until we are gone. Bears are smart: he won't be going after more people after being subject to this state. I would, however, ask for a bandage..."

[Lord Rahl]

Arya prodded the incapacitated creature several times with her Agiel, flustered at the lack of results. Then she reached for the knife on the belt that cinched a dark green cloak around her shoulders. Deneric looked into Aleister's eyes, and at the same time, said "No, Arya."

She paused, as if considering whether to disregard the command or follow it. Wisely, she chose the latter.

Eris eyed the two wizards standing before him, both with arcane knowledge superior to his own. He had been practicing magic since he was a boy, but his studies and practices did not encompass such things as these two men knew.
"Why didn't your magic harm him?"

Arya raised her eyebrow and crossed her arms — a gesture that seemed so fluid and graceful that one might think she practiced it as she practiced combat. "Indeed, Lord Rahl. Why didn't it?"

Deneric looked to Aleister. "Care to explain?"

[unpopularprophet]

The bear isn't immune to magic... but it's hide is as good as. All your spell nodes tried to go through or upon it, and thus proved ineffective. Additive magic might have worked if it had been otherwise wounded... but it was not, and thus a Subtractive element was need to bypass the hide's defensive magic by targeting the blood: Death knows no real boundaries. Really though, there's nothing sinister here at all. Even gars are more unnatural than this."
Aleister had already forced his blood to clot in the wound by removing plasma between platelets, stopping bleeding, and proceeded to absorb the loose blood magically. He grabbed a bandage from the pack, which an unlight disinfected better than any fire... Aleister smelled smoke. He turned. Smoke was pouring up out of the fire. He almost laughed before he extinguished and removed the very green- and water filled limb- from the fire. "Dry wood makes less smoke, you know..." Laughter had returned to Aleister's voice as he rapped the cloth about his wound.
Then he saw another plume in the distance, much darker and more noticeable.

[Lord Rahl]

Rahl also noticed the plume of smoke rising in the distance. Arya gripped her Agiel tightly and stood in front of him, looking in every which way. He frowned, unsure what it was she was trying to do.
Eris, in answer to Deneric's unspoken question, asked, "Could it be a signal?"

Arya replied, "It may be. We were just attacked. I wouldn't be surprised if that creature was some sort of scout."

"Really, Arya," Deneric said. "Aleister is right. The bear was probably just looking for food at the wrong place."
He grabbed her hand, fisted around her Agiel, and lowered it. "Besides that, I just did a bit of 'scouting' of my own. There's only one person in that direction. There's another approaching them, however... I don't know what is going on over there, but I think we'd better go check it out."

[unpopularprophet]

Aleister's crouched and shadowed form betrayed no sign of presence fifteen meters from the two women. And an unusual meeting it was! The unmistakable magic, as well as the attire, revealing a Confessor who just happened to not only have drawn the Lord Rahl, a Mord-Sith, a battle-hardened D'Haran wizard, and a spirit-man, but also... a strong Gift, with the unmistakable sight, attitude, and magical twist of another Mord-Sith. It was moments like these that Aleister wondered if some controlling force in the Universe was having fun with them all.
Not wanting to startle the pair, he let off a minute veil-wave that only Rahl would notice, signaling them that the individuals did not seem hostile. A Mord-Sith was a Mord-Sith was a Mord-Sith was a Mord-Sith... which meant that if she had even remotely earned her Agiel, she would not be a threat to Lord Rahl. He remained hidden, awaiting his companion's approach, and for them to either signal his rejoining, or his striking without mercy. Fortunately, Aleister's uncanny knack for foreseeing Death did not suggest hostilities would break out. It was Deneric's move.

[Lord Rahl]

Rahl could sense that the Mord-Sith ahead was gifted. Arya began walking — marching, really — toward her. The sounds of the wildlife only barely masked the dry leaves crunching underfoot as she made her way forward. Rahl caught her shoulder, stopping her.
"That Mord-Sith is gifted with magic. I've never seen anything like that before. I knew it was possible, but I know none of our Mord-Sith are gifted. We must be careful."

They crept slowly, quietly, to the two, and slowly drifted apart, creating a net of sorts. Arya and Eris circled around, taking up positions behind them. Deneric and Aleister extended their hands, prepared for anything but hoping for the best.
And then, with a barely discernible, magical nudge to the others as a signal, they all stepped forward, into the firelight.