Ki flicked his pointer finger and the thing he had been holding in his hand spun.
The miqo'te male opened his mismatched eyes and looked down at the table he was sitting beside. On the wooden surface spun a smooth, polished gem with a runic symbol etched into it's surface. The stone refracted the light of the oil resting beside it all around the room.
Ki chewed his lower lip as he listened to the distant ocean's roar. In a nearby room, his dear friend was fighting for life, his sinew binding him to this world breaking.
The mercenary exhaled as he watched the stone begin to slow and then fall flat.
Ki reached over and picked the soul stone up.
There was dried blood on the stone. The last remains of the victim Ki's allies had tracked down and almost slaughtered for the stone. The victim had managed to slip away but not with the stone. And the stone was all Ki cared about.
All his newest employer cared about.
"Tengri..." Ki said the name as if it was a vile poison. The male looked at the stone in his hand.
This 'Tengri' was an enigma, and that bothered Ki; who's life was in the hands of this man he knew next to nothing about.
Ki should be elated. All he had to do was bring the Au Ra five soul stones. In return Ki would be paid several million for each one. The deal should have given the money grubbing merc the largest hard on of his life.
But he couldn't get his hair to stop standing on end. Something was horribly wrong with the whole deal but he couldn't put his finger on it.
Ki was just a hired thug. He knew that and Tengri claimed to know that. Said he had hired Ki cause of his reputation of getting jobs done. Cause Ki had networks.
But Ki wasn't that well known. And to know Ki had networks was to know who the networks were, and none of them knew Tengri, so how could Tengri know him or them?
Further, why hire a thug when a scholar or intellectual, well versed on soul stones, would have been the smarter -and- more affordable option.
But at the same time, nothing the au ra did was threatening, but that bothered Ki even more. No one was so professional to a mercenary with a renowned history of betrayal such as Ki had. Further more, Tengri's female assistant had spoken words that had alarmed the miqo'te and almost set him off. The fact that she had used those two letters before correcting herself....
Ki grunted and placed the soul stone down before rubbing his forehead with his right hand. He had a massive headache from thinking about this over and over and it was causing him to waste valuable time. Time he could be sleeping. Time he could be spending with...
Ki paused to smile as he leaned over and sniffed the collar of his coat, which still smelt of her. That powder keg of a woman...
Ki's eyes lifted and his smile fell as he looked at the grimoire lying open on the table. The book was a gift from the necromancer "Mask of the Seven Horrors Hidden in Nald'Thal's Mists" and on its macabre painted pages were spells and rules of the necromancer's black arts which Ki had been trying to read to understand the terms of the rituals he sought to have the necromancer perform. Ki recalled -why- he had been collecting so much gil and what he was paying the necromancer for.
Once Ki had been so intent and unwavering in his goal. Willing to give the necromancer -anything- he needed for the ritual Ki wanted. But there had been problems and delays.
Ki rose to his feet and went to the window.
The necromancer claimed he couldn't find the soul in question, and without a usable, original host, other options were needed; and Ki was questioning if he was willing to make those options happen. The mercenary was wondering if he should let the past stay the past and move on. He had a new chance at life. People offering him more than gil, and even someone he found himself growing amazingly tender towards.
Should I really bring the past out from its grave? Ki thought. Would -she- want that?
Ki narrowed his eyes. That idea made him bite his lower lip till blood squirted out. The warm liquid ran down his chin.
He had seen the dead rise up before; with his own, damned eyes. And from the way Mask of the Seven Horrors Hidden in Nald'Thal's Mist had spoken, the original body wasn't needed in the event of....
Ki turned back and gazed at the book and the soul stone with a look of utter dread.
A few moments later Ki was out the door, the book of unnatural magics under one arm and the stone in the other. He passed his friends door and paused to nod.
He then stormed out of the inn into the night.Â
"You're thinking like a madman." Ki growled as his mind filled with phantasmal horrors. But his gut was knotted. If he was right....
Ki had killed so many...
Ki had sent his allies looking into the background of this Tengri and found nothing. Nothing in this world had really turned up.
Perhaps all it was was Tengri was a brilliant individual.
But perhaps there was something more.
Ki knew he was thinking irrationally.
But Ki knew only a necromancer could confirm or disperse his wild, nightmarish thoughts.
The miqo'te male opened his mismatched eyes and looked down at the table he was sitting beside. On the wooden surface spun a smooth, polished gem with a runic symbol etched into it's surface. The stone refracted the light of the oil resting beside it all around the room.
Ki chewed his lower lip as he listened to the distant ocean's roar. In a nearby room, his dear friend was fighting for life, his sinew binding him to this world breaking.
The mercenary exhaled as he watched the stone begin to slow and then fall flat.
Ki reached over and picked the soul stone up.
There was dried blood on the stone. The last remains of the victim Ki's allies had tracked down and almost slaughtered for the stone. The victim had managed to slip away but not with the stone. And the stone was all Ki cared about.
All his newest employer cared about.
"Tengri..." Ki said the name as if it was a vile poison. The male looked at the stone in his hand.
This 'Tengri' was an enigma, and that bothered Ki; who's life was in the hands of this man he knew next to nothing about.
Ki should be elated. All he had to do was bring the Au Ra five soul stones. In return Ki would be paid several million for each one. The deal should have given the money grubbing merc the largest hard on of his life.
But he couldn't get his hair to stop standing on end. Something was horribly wrong with the whole deal but he couldn't put his finger on it.
Ki was just a hired thug. He knew that and Tengri claimed to know that. Said he had hired Ki cause of his reputation of getting jobs done. Cause Ki had networks.
But Ki wasn't that well known. And to know Ki had networks was to know who the networks were, and none of them knew Tengri, so how could Tengri know him or them?
Further, why hire a thug when a scholar or intellectual, well versed on soul stones, would have been the smarter -and- more affordable option.
But at the same time, nothing the au ra did was threatening, but that bothered Ki even more. No one was so professional to a mercenary with a renowned history of betrayal such as Ki had. Further more, Tengri's female assistant had spoken words that had alarmed the miqo'te and almost set him off. The fact that she had used those two letters before correcting herself....
Ki grunted and placed the soul stone down before rubbing his forehead with his right hand. He had a massive headache from thinking about this over and over and it was causing him to waste valuable time. Time he could be sleeping. Time he could be spending with...
Ki paused to smile as he leaned over and sniffed the collar of his coat, which still smelt of her. That powder keg of a woman...
Ki's eyes lifted and his smile fell as he looked at the grimoire lying open on the table. The book was a gift from the necromancer "Mask of the Seven Horrors Hidden in Nald'Thal's Mists" and on its macabre painted pages were spells and rules of the necromancer's black arts which Ki had been trying to read to understand the terms of the rituals he sought to have the necromancer perform. Ki recalled -why- he had been collecting so much gil and what he was paying the necromancer for.
Once Ki had been so intent and unwavering in his goal. Willing to give the necromancer -anything- he needed for the ritual Ki wanted. But there had been problems and delays.
Ki rose to his feet and went to the window.
The necromancer claimed he couldn't find the soul in question, and without a usable, original host, other options were needed; and Ki was questioning if he was willing to make those options happen. The mercenary was wondering if he should let the past stay the past and move on. He had a new chance at life. People offering him more than gil, and even someone he found himself growing amazingly tender towards.
Should I really bring the past out from its grave? Ki thought. Would -she- want that?
Ki narrowed his eyes. That idea made him bite his lower lip till blood squirted out. The warm liquid ran down his chin.
He had seen the dead rise up before; with his own, damned eyes. And from the way Mask of the Seven Horrors Hidden in Nald'Thal's Mist had spoken, the original body wasn't needed in the event of....
Ki turned back and gazed at the book and the soul stone with a look of utter dread.
A few moments later Ki was out the door, the book of unnatural magics under one arm and the stone in the other. He passed his friends door and paused to nod.
He then stormed out of the inn into the night.Â
"You're thinking like a madman." Ki growled as his mind filled with phantasmal horrors. But his gut was knotted. If he was right....
Ki had killed so many...
Ki had sent his allies looking into the background of this Tengri and found nothing. Nothing in this world had really turned up.
Perhaps all it was was Tengri was a brilliant individual.
But perhaps there was something more.
Ki knew he was thinking irrationally.
But Ki knew only a necromancer could confirm or disperse his wild, nightmarish thoughts.
