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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cevalic" data-source="post: 3632812" data-attributes="member: 171">Sweet ReleaseRound 1, Match 3Sweet Release“You are Past, aren’t you?”She didn’t respond.  She merely stood drooling, her eyes fixed upon the mirror.  In a strange, twisted way, she was beautiful as she stood there, her mind completely separated from her body.  She was innocent once more, free of the sins that burdened her mind and heart.  That was a freedom I could envy.Then again, she was drooling on herself.“Well, if we’re going to get this over with, I’m going to have to look through your eyes.”I knew she couldn’t hear me.  It just made these types of Returns easier.  They definitely weren’t my favorite thing to do.  Then again, I’m not sure that I had a favorite thing to do.  As a wizard of Demmun, I was obliged to deal with some issues that lesser mages wouldn’t dare to touch.   Most of the moral decisions that I had to make went against my faith, a fact that caused me much sorrow.“The Six only know,” I muttered, a half-hearted curse at the heads of my order that had chosen me for this work.I was born with the Mind of a wizard, and the Reason of a priest.  Fortunately when my parents gave me to the Six, they thought me more suitable as a wizard.  All of the work I did paled in comparison to the dark arts that the priests were required to practice.  Knowing how different my life could have gone made my burden that much easier to bear.I stepped in the bathroom behind the woman, and placed my hands upon both sides of her head.  My eyes closed as I took a deep breath.  I spoke a few sharp words of Sorcery, and suddenly I was inside of what was once her mind, looking through her eyes.In the mirror, a warped version of reality glared back.  The walls were covered with blood, though no clue was offered from where it had come.  The beautiful woman that I held was replaced by a gaunt image of herself.  A ghostly pale feminine face was obscured by wild, black hair blowing around violently in that alternate realm.  The eyes were white and fixed upon mine, pulling me towards them, a mystical attack that I brushed aside with ease.   The image’s thin, tight lips, devoid of color, gave me the final clue as to what type of creature I was gazing upon. “Ek’Aclin,” I said, pulling my hands off of her head.  The image in the mirror vanished. “A demon of Vanity.”I heard the girl’s mother gasp, and collapse in her husband’s arms. I stepped out of the bathroom, and looked into the father’s teary eyes.  He was searching for some hope, some sign from me.None was coming.“It is hopeless.  There is no Return when a creature like that is involved.”  I said it in a neutral tone, but I knew that the words came out harsh.  It was the only way they could come out.  “The demon has devoured what was your daughter, and if I don’t have a Knight drain the blood from the body of your daughter, it will enter our world and possess her body.”I was worried he would object, or as most do, get violent.  He did neither, just merely held his fainted wife tighter and sobbed.  It was a blessing; things generally didn’t go that well, especially after such awful news.  I walked to the door.“I will send for a Knight of Orgul.  They are more proficient at the rest of this process than I,” I said before turning to leave.  “They will arrive within the hour, as time is crucial.  You should say your goodbyes before he arrives.  There will be no time after.”With that, I turned to walk down the long hallway that led out of the building, this home that would never again be called a home by the family who lived there.  I was nearly to the outer door when the call came.“Used to be a time when Wizards did Returns.”I stopped, puzzled by the voice from the door to my side.“They used to stop souls from being condemned to the Nine.  I guess things just aren’t what they used to be.”The door to the room where the voice came from was part way open.  I nudged it open enough to peer in, and held my breath.The most colorful room I’d ever beheld wrapped around me.  It was a surreal look, with the paint on the wall seeming to come alive as I gazed around.  Immediately I found the cause.At the far end of the room, an elderly woman sat in a chair, the drapes from the closed window behind her blowing on some unfelt breeze.  I counted eleven cats on or around her.  They purred and languished around the woman and the three neat stacks of books at her feet.  It was the woman who was the source of the pastel colors of the room.Though old, the woman had the look of a person who had stepped out of an artists’ landscape.  Her age was timeless, a beauty that never withered.  The clothes, a knit sweater over a blue dress, fit perfectly, even if the woman sat in a chair cushioned chair that dwarfed her.   She was a grandmother of Grace Eternal.  She gave off a comforting presence as she sat there, eyes closed, petting a cat.She was, in her very essence, otherworldly.“That’s right.  I Rose.”  Her voice was soft, musical.  Another side effect of coming back.“You weren’t only Returned, but Risen?”  I asked.  “No one ever Rises.”“They used to.  When I was a child the Wizards of all the Six were able to perform the Rites, and very few failed when they attempted a Rite.”  She sighed.  “That’s the way of the world.  Everything changes.  Back then I could walk around, and people wouldn’t think twice.  Now, I only dare to think what would happen if I were to step outside.  With all of the nonsense of the God-King, and the Faith Denouncement, I worry I’d be viewed as a monster.  Best for me to stay inside, like I have for countless years, hidden and taken care of by the ones that love me.”I was speechless.  I had never expected to see a Risen, much less converse with one.  The few that were rumored to exist were notoriously secretive, so much that the very existence of the Risen was questioned as fact of history or just some legend that had made its way into the history books.“You should go Mage,” she said.  “You have done all you can here and no one in the house holds any anger towards you.  It’s not your fault of the failing powers of the Six, and although I know you have many questions, I have very few answers.  Go.  There are dark things around this night.  Some I am sure you can help with.”I left, without words.  Too much had come to my mind, too many questions, and for some reason I felt the urge to obey her command to leave.  Perhaps the Risen gained some type of mystical powers when they came back.  I didn’t have long to ponder the thought though.As I walked outside the dusk sky gave just enough light for me to see two men dressed in yellow jackets leaning towards each other; their bodies at an odd angle especially considering that they weren’t touching.  Both were holding something up to their  heads, in the hand nearest to each other.  Neither moved.As I walked closer I noted that the uniforms the men wore marked them as garbage men, probably just starting their shift.  Neither was remarkable, just two out of shape middle aged men.  I was close enough then to notice the steel rods were what the men were holding against their heads, braced up from the ground.Out of the ground, I corrected myself.  And the rods stretched, and punctured, into each of their heads through the ears.  They weren’t holding them there; they had tried to remove them, as it happened.I knew the signs at once.  Some Geomancer had unleashed a Gaia demon, whether by choice or accident was to be decided.  These two probably weren’t his only victims, and the demon couldn’t be too far away.  This attack had been fresh.  I would have no problem Returning them before I set out in search of the Gaia.I paused momentarily to think of the Risen, and wondered if such a thing would have been possible with these men had it happened in her time.  The thought passed quickly, as the need to find and stop the demon grew.  There were dark things out that night, and I was needed.</blockquote>

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