Deaths_Legion

((Sleep eludes me, and so I post.))

"Ah, my fellow man, but what is God? According to the Arbitrarium, we were created from Aeturnus, who had split into Tormentus and Audux, who had a war, and then created mortal man and Time. But how do we prove this theory? How are we to decipher between fiction and reality? Are these tables that surround us real, or just parts of our own, mortal-created fiction?"

Samuel had been in a pub debating philosophies for the past three hours, but what seemed like four minutes to him. He had lost track of time, and so had missed his previously scheduled appointment with a friend, and all for a simple debate in which he knew he could win. A pub held people, and people were ignorant, no matter the person; even he. Samuel realized he had been receiving some very quizzical looks from people around the tavern, and others of disgust as well. Apparently people didn't like his outlook of life.

"And even for that matter, how do I know what I say right now is true? Does the word 'true' actually have meaning, or is language a conditioning process? Are we taught, without conscious thought, how to speak? A table is a table, but to this man over here-" Samuel said as he pointed at a foreigner, who clearly had no idea what had been going on the past hour. "-it is something completely different. Do you understand what I mean? Language defines human life. Without language, would you have this table? Would you be holding that Tarneisan Ale?"

The man he had been speaking too had lost all will to even reply after Samuel's first couple of rants, but even still, Samuel didn't stop. He had too much fun in debates; he would do it until the day he died. But he would have to quit, because it suddenly dawned on him how long he had stayed. He looked to the man he had been debating with, gave him a warm smile, and then left the tavern slowly.

He was late, he knew it. Judging just by the position of the sun in the sky, he could tell he was too late; Hedge had probably already left. But it was worth a try. He headed toward the Library. On his way, he thought. He always did. It was one of the things that was good, and also bad about him. Always thinking, and not paying attention, and without knowing it, ending up in the area he always needed to be. This time, however, it took him quite a bit longer to reach the Library than usual. There was a fairly large gathering around the Dagger, probably tourists, but he paid no attention and kept on his way.

Once he reached the giant blue building, he knocked upon the door as he usually did, and heard some shuffling on the other side. Almost magically, a small slit appeared in the door and two eyes stared out at him. "It's me, Samuel." With a grunt, the door slid open slowly, allowing him entrance. Samuel noticed a scowl on the man's face as he closed the door once again, draining nearly all the light from the room. The doorman had never liked Samuel, he was always causing problems for Samuel as well: trying to get him kicked out, framing him for broken books, and all other things associated with unnecessary behavior in the Library. Samuel shot an innocent glare back at the doorman, with a slight smirk of mischief. He always loved playing with people's heads.

Samuel quickly set to his task, however, and found no one in the Library. Not even the normal scholars. Had they gone to the Dagger as well? No matter, it made it easier on Samuel to look for Hedge. Samuel scanned the bookshelves for books as he did so, and went back to thinking. He picked a book off the shelf and started reading it, and walking around as he did so. It was a fairly boring book, about the usual cliche hero saving the damsel in distress, but it was something to think about.

Near the halfway point in the book, Samuel looked up and saw nothing. He had found a seat sub-consciously and been sitting there for yet another good portion of time. A candle had been placed next to him, and only after he saw the candle did it dawn on him that it was night. Where was Hedge? Should Samuel go look around town for him, or wait? After that walk, and the condition his frail body was in, Samuel eventually decided on the option of waiting even longer for his friend. He opened the book back up to the last page he had read and continued.

((I'll cut it short there. I was going to have Samuel go down and meet Alexander and Hedge, but I think I really should stop typing and get some sleep...))

__________________

Xenonight2

((I can think of something to bridge it for you, Legion.))

The Librarian approached Samuel. "Mr. Stone, correct? Please don't say a word, just follow me. Every precaution must be taken." The Librarian beckoned Samuel to come, and then led him through the locked door and into the basement. He gave Samuel a candle, and led him to the table where Hedge and Alexander were reading the History of the Arbitrarium.

Hedge had just said "Here it is," when he turned around and saw Samuel. A large grin came over his face, and walked over to Samuel and offered his hand. "Oh, you're late, you're late, but it doesn't matter. Have you met Alexander? I asked Gordon - oh, you haven't met Gordon have you? - for a man with special talents, and here he is. I'd offer you a place to sit, but there are none. How are you, Samuel?"

__________________

Alexdude1255

Alexander walked down the stairs with Hedge and the Librarian, not really interested in whats down there, but really interested in how he did not knew that this place existed. He slowly, walked down the creaky stairwell, spiraling down into the depths... all illuminated by the light emitted by the candle.

Alexander exclaimed, "Almost like a haunted basement or something, jeez.."

They went through the depths, stopping at a small table. Where Alexander witnessed Hedge's sneeze, and saw a Librarian give him an evil glare. He stood there, waiting. After a few moments, of Hedge.. swifting through the pages. Hedge asked Alexander if he knew about Theology but was interrupted before he even got a chance to answer. Although, what he was about to say that he was not interested in Theology or Philosophy, Alexander stood there for basically 15 to 30 minutes. Listening to a very long lecture about Philosophy.

Alexander obviously, bored... asked, "So, whats next?"

The long lecture stopped when Samuel came in, introducing himself to Alexander and Hedge.

Alexander said to Samuel, "Why.. hello there, my informant never told me about you. Nice to meet ya."

Deaths_Legion

((Sorry about not posting earlier, I tried too, but just as I clicked the Submit Reply button, my connection died. I saved it though, so that's good. Thanks for the help Xenoknight!))

Samuel followed the librarian, without question, through a locked door and into the darkness. When they had arrived at a particularly large room, with only a small light seen from the other side, the librarian lit a candle with her torch and doused it in the bucket of water to her right. Samuel noticed a few other torches inside, and before the librarian could explain, Samuel raised his hand and whispered, "I understand, ma'am." And she continued on.

As they neared the small patch of light, which Samuel could now clearly see was emanating from a candle, he saw his friend Hedge bending over a book with a sort of shady character behind him. Before he could get a word in edgewise, Hedge had looked up from his book and was speaking, as usual. "Oh, you're late, you're late, but it doesn't matter. Have you met Alexander? I asked Gordon - oh, you haven't met Gordon have you? - for a man with special talents, and here he is. I'd offer you a place to sit, but there are none. How are you, Samuel?"

He responded to the sentences in quick succession. "Yes, I know I'm late. No I haven't met Alexander, and no I have not met Gordon either. Nice to meet you Alexander! No worries, I'm fine, even in my old age. Anything else you'd like to know Hedge?" he asked sarcastically. He was always making fun of the man for talking too much, but Samuel couldn't complain; it was always nice to have someone intelligent to speak with.

__________________

Xenonight2

Hedge grinned even wider, if that was possible.

"Ahh, you haven't changed at all, old friend!" Hedge said, his excitement contained, but barely, which was shown in his struggle to keep his voice quiet. "I was just explaining Alexander here about the Arbitrarium. He looked so lost! Well, it doesn't matter. I was just looking for the Deus Ex Machina, that mythological device that is said to make you a god. Next stop is the plane of Ambrosia. First, we need to get out of this library. Something doesn't feel... Right. Did you notice anything coming in, Samuel?"

__________________

Deaths_Legion

"Hedge, you know me well enough, do you honestly think I was paying attention? Although...I do remember seeing a huge crowd around the Dagger, and none of the scholars were in the library either. Would there be a connection there?" Samuel asked. Those are really the only two things he remembered from the past couple of hours, his memory had been failing him the past days. But a big crowd like that just doesn't up and leave your memory, so he was at least glad for that.

Samuel looked down at the Arbitrarium and scanned the page that was open. He couldn't understand any of it, as usual, but some of the symbols looked familiar to him. He just couldn't remember...he was still having a memory lapse. He looked back up to Hedge, and then quickly gave a smile to hide his current thoughts.

__________________

Xenonight2

Hedge nodded. He closed the book, and signalled Alexander to follow. "Let's relax when we get out of here. Why would people be at the Dagger?" Hedge wondered aloud. "Let's go."

The librarians were gone. Hedge glanced nervously around and picked up his candle. Somewhere in the back of the room, a light went out. And another. "Let's move. Now." Hedge picked up his candle and set the ARBITRARIUM HISTORIUM on fire, before putting a hand over the candle and walking quickly to the exit. He glanced around every few seconds to see if Samuel was catching up okay. In about half a minute, they were at the stairs and they kept walking. Hedge was unnerved, but managed to keep an outwardly cool appearance.. He had known that there was something shady about that Loremaster. He had felt the Librarian watching him as he read the History of the Arbitrarium. Like an eagle, in fact. Far away, but close enough to see. Why did the Loremaster want what he was looking for?

"Just stick behind me." Hedge gripped his blade which he had kept hidden from the doorman. A draft blew the candle out, and Hedge cussed. "Alexander, take the front. Samuel, you in the middle. I'll guard the back. You keep on going, we'll meet at the Merry Suitor Inn. I'll explain in due time. I swear to the Gods, Alexander, if you harm that old man..." Hedge descended back down the stairs.

__________________

Alexdude1255

Alexander does not understand what is going on, but listened to what Hedge said and took the front. But in that moment, noticed that it was kind of odd that the librarians were very attentive to what we were doing.

He said, "I see what you mean.. they were kind of odd before, they kept an eye on all of us.. that whole time, where did you meet that Lore Master?" and added "Also, I do not have a part of whats going on right now.. the only person I know in this place is that informant that told me of a brewing job that was going on. Although, now that I think of it.. He's odd too!"

Slowly, he takes out the hidden daggers in the depths of his cloak and keeps them close to his stomach. He kept a close eye on the stairs, a gaze shown through the depth of under the hood, directly up the spiraling stairwell.. while Alexander tried to keep the dust out of his eyes.

Deaths_Legion

((Hey guys, I'm extremely sorry, but I'm going to have to postpone this again. For another couple of weeks, I'm not going to be posting often, because my monitor died just last night; it blew a fuse. >_< So right now, I'm on a giant, 30-pound, old as hell monitor, and I can barely read what I'm typing at the moment. I'll try to see if I can sneak on my bro's computer every now and then to post though, because I'm definitely not going to be able to on this one. I can't read anything, really, and with the length of the posts...well, it would be a while before I'd be able to decipher one. I'm SO sorry Xeno, I know it seems like I'm just trying to get out of posting, but I'm not. I swear. All of my electronics hate me now, because my TV died just last night as well. *sigh* If you guys wanna carry on, go ahead, I'll catch up later.))

__________________

Xenonight2

Hedge descended the stairs slowly, with his back to the wall. He let his right arm feel ahead, and his left hand stay on his dagger's hilt. With each step, Hedge's heart pounded faster and louder. Despite the cool underground, his temples were beaded with sweat. His nose flared, and breathing came easy and slow. As always, Hedge was outwardly calm, but his mind was racing and jumping at every odd noise.

It felt like ages, but Hedge finally made it to the bottom of the stairs. The door was closed, which was not how he left it. Hedge opened it, and the creak of the rusted hinges rang out like a bell announcing his arrival. Everything was dark. There was not a sound or a speck of light to be found. Hedge's night vision had adjusted enough just to barely see the mounds of books, undisturbed.

Hedge walked through the doorway.

There was a flash of red, and every single torch and candle in the room burst into light. Hedge yelled in pain as the dagger he was still holding suddenly became extremely hot, and his sword burned through its belt. His weapons clattered to the floor, all of the metal steaming and red. He could not see it, though, for his eyes were closed to stop the sudden burning of light.

"I could have killed you," called a familiar voice. He recognized it as the Loremaster's. Hedge opened his eyes, and could see a figure walk from behind a mound of books. It was the Loremaster for sure, but he was in the Librarian's clothing. Of course! The Loremaster was disguised as the Librarian. No wonder the Librarian was so dirty, and always spoke in hushed tones. "I decided against it, though, when I realized that you burned the History of the Arbitrarium." The Loremaster walked up to Hedge, a fire in his stare. "Do you have any idea how much that book was worth? More than this entire Library, more than this entire pitiful plane of Jarr. That was one of the ORIGINAL copies, you fool!" The Loremaster was yelling.

Hedge just stared back blankly.

"Good, you know when to keep your mouth shut," sneered the Loremaster. "You know why that copy was so important, don't you? This one was even more important since it had information about the Deus Ex Machina that no other copy except for the original had. I had to get that information! Oh, yes, it was I who contacted YOU. You didn't contact me, like it seems. Who was the barman that told you about the Loremaster's interest in the Arbitrarium? Who was the beggar that was an old librarian? Ha!" The Loremaster took off his glasses, which had no lens. They were just wires.

"I thought you were a Loremaster, not a Runemaster," said Hedge quietly.

"When you have been in this world for two hundred years, Jakalin, names and titles lose their meaning."

"Why didn't you kill me?"

"Tell me what you found."

"No."

"Boy has a backbone now, eh? You're a bladesman, you are useless without your weapons." The Loremaster said, as he put his hand on Hedge's shoulder. Hedge glanced down at the Loremaster's hand and saw a red tattoo. "Ahh, you see those? Let me show you," The Loremaster rolled up his sleeve to reveal a long tattoo of squarish shapes and lines running from his wrist to his shoulder. "That," said the Loremaster, with pride in his tone, "will blow off your arm in one word."

Hedge stared at the Loremaster incredulously.

"I am a Runemaster," said the Loremaster, "I do not threaten, I promise."

It was hard for Hedge to keep his calm demeanor. The Loremaster was not bluffing.

"Gods, what do you want from me?" Whispered Hedge, fear evident in his tone.

"That's more like it," said the Loremaster, smiling, "I want a service."

"A service? What kind?"

__________________