Tale of Exzalia, well of darkness

Tess, being Tess

"Looks like you are finally reaching to the sky, rivers are normally earthbound. Hmm?" Emery flashed her spiteful smile, wishing it to burn into River.

"BUUUUUURN!" Tess said merrily then seeing the look of anger in rivers eyes recomposed him self. "Errr I mean, that was mean. Why would you say that?" he said turning to the insulting girl. he was about to open his mouth again when A sudden loopdy loop followed by an evil laugh by the teacher interupted him. Maybe he should just watch this one....

 

River Hoya

"Looks like you are finally reaching to the sky, rivers are normally earthbound. Hmm?" Emery flashed a spiteful smile. River refused to let the she-human ruin her joy. "You poor thing." She said her eyes closed and hair flowing in the wind. "I bet this is your first time on a Seer. I on the other hand, have been in the air many a time. I am even friends with a seer named Sunray."
Emery rolled her eyes and turned back in her seat.
River laughed happily. A laugh that sounded like a creak bubbiling happily. It wouldn't be long till they were at this mythical grove seeing the things of legends.

 

Will

So, this was what it was like to ride on a wind seer. Will was loving it, even when Miss Vashal made it dive. The Well of Darkness eh? He'd read about that before, but hadn't put together that it was supposed to be in Grove.

The wind seer dipped again, and he let out a whoop.

"Looks like you are finally reaching to the sky, rivers are normally earthbound. Hmm?" He Emery say. He'd met her a few times, and while she was pretty, she was kind of a... well, not a nice person. He wondered how her and River would get along. They seemed to be pretty much opposites.

"BUUUUUURN! Errr I mean, that was mean. Why would you say that?" Will laughed out loud, then screamed for a bit as the wind seer did a flip, then laughed again.

"You poor thing." She said her eyes closed and hair flowing in the wind. "I bet this is your first time on a Seer. I on the other hand, have been in the air many a time. I am even friends with a seer named Sunray." He heard River say.

"You tell her River, you'll have to tell me about Sunray sometime! And Emery, I'm sorry but that was weak. You can do better than that," He shouted back to her.

 

Introducing William, lover of all things Nox. Not.

William had a problem; the problem was too many of the students around him used Nox magic. Nox magic was deceitful and insidious. It's hardly the type of thing someone as trustworthy as Mistress Vashal would allow on this field trip, and yet they were sitting on the wind seer like the rest of them, minding their own business and looking around idly, as though they had nothing to be ashamed of. William considered pushing one of them off, but he didn't want to break Vashal's trust. William owed her his life for being let into her academy with no parents and little magical experience.

"I ought to persuade Vashal to dump those shadow-users off the seer, eh?" he whispered to his parents, whom he saw sitting in front of him.

There was no answer.

"Of course you agree with me; you agree with whatever I say. That's because you aren't real. You just look real because that Nox magic messed with my brain, and you'll think whatever I want you to think."

Still no answer.

"If you were here right now, I bet you'd both agree with me, after what those bandits did to me. But it's impossible for you to be here." William's voice grew slightly in volume from its whisper and began to reach the cracking point. "It's impossible for you to be here because you're dead. Dead people are thrown into the ground to rot, and you're both dead because of Nox." William felt a stinging sensation in his eyes; he wiped them with his sleeve.

His parents seemed to flicker a bit, then were gone.

The students around William were laughing about something, probably from something Tess said. He scooted away from them a bit; William didn't like crowds.

 

Perhaps few noticed it, but William didn't seem to be completely right, Lebry of course didn't knew the reason behind this, and he assumed the most natural one on this situation, this was of course a mistake, still Lebry didn't gave too much thought to it.

He patted the shoulder of William and asked to him in a low tone "Hey, you ok? you don't seem to be doing well, what's it? motion sickness? or are you a bit scared of Grove?"
There was no bad intention on the words of Lebry, he indeed wanted to conform his new partners, he thought to turn off the fire generated by Emery at first, but he decided to do the hard job later, and instead try to comfort William.

Yet he didn't knew about Will's hatred, and it wasn't a good concidence that Lebry were to be an user of both Nox and Althea, both opposing forces that naturally can coexist within him

 

Emery Rose

"Emery, I'm sorry but that was weak. You can do better than that," He shouted back to her.

She turned back around to the voice that had stood up to her, the familar voice of Will. He had a smile slapped on his face too, a mischievous playful one. She could feel her fingers itching, tingling with the eather in the air. She scowled at the boy, her eyes reddening at the irises.

"Shut it, Will. Do not urge me on, you must not know what I'm capable of. I could endanger you all in mere seconds." She snapped her fingers in emphasis, "But I don't want to be expelled before we get to Grove, so keep your annoying light where I can't see it."

 

Will

"Shut it, Will. Do not urge me on, you must not know what I'm capable of. I could endanger you all in mere seconds." She snapped her fingers in emphasis, "But I don't want to be expelled before we get to Grove, so keep your annoying light where I can't see it."

"See, that's why no one likes you!" He shouted. "It's because you're a b..." The wind seer dove again, cutting him off. Good timing, Will thought. That girl got so angry over the stupidest things, absolutely no social grace. He shook his head. At least the rest of them seemed okay. Tess was crazy, but in a good way, and Zothecula, Will decided to call him Zoth, had some self esteem issues, but they were alright. He didn't know about that guy William though. Other than sharing a name, there was nothing in common between them, and he always seemed to be giving Will a dirty look. It was confusing.

 

sights and sounds

As they flew, three more Wind seers caught up to the one they were on. They chimed happily with the yellow wind seer, one was blue, another bright red, the last green. They seemed to have their own language chiming and keening to one another.
"Wind seers never touch the ground, They are born flying and even when they dei their remains stay airborn. The epiphany of freedom." Vashal exclaimed. She often ranted on about educational stuff, most kids liked listening to her, she is a wealth of neet knowledge. As they soared through the sky they pierced a cloud rising higher and higher until they reached the sphere of a shining star, only the size of a house, these stars hung in Exzalia's endless blue sky, the really bright ones could be seen even during the day. The kids marveled at the immense heat the star released, even from their distance it was hot.

Vashal then took them even higher! Past the clouds way above there heads a giant land mass sailed over head. "That continent is called Zalium, some lands float high above Exzalia! No one has ever been to one, there simply too high, but some speculate life may be on them."

"Wow floating continents?" Tess mused.

Vashal smiled, "Exzalia is a strange world Tess...Ooo look down there class."

A large lumbering plain walker set it's massive foot down as it lumbered over the landscape. "That's a colossal, a giant golem the size of whole kingdoms, this is their migration route! In the past whole cities have been squashed by one of there foot steps. Who wants to get a closer look?"

"Arn't they dangerous? Whaaa!"

Vashal flew towards the lumbering rock giant, flying through it's fingers that looked like canyons to the students. Tess gasped at its immense size, Vashal continued to blab facts and other tim bits of knowledge as the day wore on.

Soon Exzalias's sun began to fade, night was soon approaching they had flown for hours. "We are going to fly late into the night, Vashal shouted over the roaring wind. "In the morning we will reach our first check point and then GROVE! so say good bye to Damiruu!"

 

Zothecula

Everyone was chatting and bantering like, well, school kids. Zothecula kept to himself and made silent observations about the gloomy landscape. It was all rather fantastic, like a nightmare come true. He couldn't wait to get to doing things. But he was starting to feel anxiety about being so high in the air and all these people talking at once. Zothecula felt an urge to sip some Laudanum, but he couldn't, not yet. Not when he might be seen. Laudanum was outlawed, and if he was caught drinking it he would be expelled or worse. He had a full bottle of the mindnumbing drug and he had to pace himself. Once he ran out, he wold have to find a new dealer wherever they were going. It shouldn't be hard in such a dubious place, but he still feared what would happen if he had to go without Laudanum for too long. He had heard tales of people who went through withdrawal, and he did not want to be one of them. thinking about all this, made him even more anxious and want to drink Laudanum even badder. He bit his lip and cradled his leather box-satchel to his chest and felt a few beads of sweat on his brow. He needed to take a sip, soon.

 

Ignore/delete, sorry!

 

Carys

Carys sat bundled in her father’s old woollen coat, her long, flame-coloured hair haphazardly piled under an oversized woollen hat. She hated flying, and the journey coupled with the bickering of some of the other students had dampened her initial excitement at being chosen for the trip. The mere sight of the Colossal had nearly killed her and she had to fight against the little voice in her head, telling her she would no doubt be facing even scarier creatures once she lands.

Her spirits were quickly lifted when she fished in her coat pocket and found a full packet of Flamin’ Sprites, her favourite cinnamon energy sweet. She knocked back 5 of the little red pellets, squealing with delight as the cinnamon-y heat hit the back of her throat.

As her little squeal had caused other students to peer at her for the first time she decided it was time to introduce herself. Eager to make a good first impression, and struggling to make her tiny voice heard over the whipping winds, she shouted

“Hello there! I’m Carys! Erm, I’m 18 years old, I love long hot bubbly baths, and hate bad table manners! Um, I’m really looking forward to getting to know you all, I’m sure we’ll all become the best of friends! Flamin’ Sprite, anyone?”

Carys held out the box of sweets, smiling her biggest smile – the one she normally saved for the handsome Charons she saw milling around the expensive boutiques in her hometown.

 

William

"Hey, you ok? you don't seem to be doing well, what's it? motion sickness? or are you a bit scared of Grove?"

It was Lebry, that Nox user. Why was he being nice? People like him weren't nice; they were murderers, and William knew this as fact.

Perhaps he wants to gain my trust so slipping a knife into my back becomes easier. Ha! I'll show him. I'll show all of them!

"Get away, shadow-user," William spat, "I know what you're trying to do. You want me dead, dead as my parents. You killed them!" William wasn't entirely sure what caused him to bring up his parents, but he continued on, "Oh yes, you're plotting against me at this very moment, taking in everything I say as information to be used against me later. How do I know that pat on the back wasn't an attempt to knock me off? You killed my parents!" What was once a coherent speech turned into ramblings. "Eleven years ago, you and all your friends murdered them and kidnapped me. Nox is evil! You're trying to kill me! Your friends are, too! And you all killed my par-"

William screamed at the sight of a pitch-black snake slithering out of Lebry's neck, his head rolling off into the clouds. He scooted back.

"Don't hurt me. I'm sorry, just don't kill me yet, I don't want to die." It all came out as blubberings.

In an instant, the snake flickered out of existence, and only Lebry's was left, looking confused and somewhat angry. Just like how his parents flickered out a few moments ago, and a good deal of other sights in William's life as well.

 

Kithri Silverbow

Kithri had kept quiet. she was still in shock that she had been chosen. now she was looking bored around wondering if Vashal would let her fly beside the wind seers. she reached out to tap Vashal on the back, voicing her question. while waiting for response she stroked the wind seer`s feathers.
she looked to the others and introduced herself. "hey, i`m Kithri. i hope we`ll go along well" then she smiled to assure them she wasn`t being ironic.
she shot a curious glance at the guy screaming random nonsense, and figured he still was in shock. humans were weird after all.

 

Vashal/ Tess

She smiled at the airmid, "We are glad to have you, you don't find allot of Airmids willing to brave traveling with land walkers. Its an honor...Hold on."

Two students seemed to be getting into a squabble at the back. Suddenly the wind seer twisted upside down! All the kids dangled in the air for a moment screaming in suprice befor Vashal righted them. "Hey! No fighting back there! Or I'll turn this wind seer right around!"
The students went silent for a moment.
"The great and terrible Vashal has finally awoken! FEAR HER!" Tess blurted out. Others students began to chuckle to them selves. Vashal chuckled too then said to her windseer, "Kasna"

Tess was suddenly thrown from the windseer making a most hysterical scream. The other students looked on in awe at Tess who disappeared beneath the clouds. Then they looked back to Vashal.

"1...2...3...4...5" she counted seemingly unaware Tess was thrown off,she looked at her nails, blew them casually and then suddenly the windseer dropped down rapidly, with expert skill it Veered toward Tess and, caught him mid fall! he landed right back in his spot panting, He was paler than a ghost.

"Anybody else want to talk out of line?" Vashal said smiling cheerfully at them. No one even coughed, "Good." Vashal said seemingly pleased. "lets continue!"

Most of the kids fell asleep that night, those who stayed up were lucky enough to see star birds soaring across exzlalias sky, these birds glowed all sorts or radiant coluors in the night which made them look like stars. In flocks one could mistake them for falling rainbow coloured stars. Even with all these sights Tess soon fell asleep.

The next morning the students awoke to a much different scene, they were on the edge of Damiruus border, in the distance they could see Grove. The land was covered in an eiry morning mist, there was a definitetly darker feeling to this place. The wind seer landed at a large travelers out post right by Damiruus border, inside food had been prpared for the students arrival. It was big and spacious, even cozy inside the cavern with a mostly Damirian staff who welcomed the students happily.
"Look at all the food." Tess marvled
"This is the part where the Grovians fatten us up and make cake out of us." One student said mischieviously.
"Well at least we'll die happy!" Another student joked, they began to dig in.

Tess and his group of cohorts were seated at one table, they chatted away getting to know one another but Tess along with the other of the group couldn't help but over hear an intresting conversation.

Vashal was talking to two Damirian staff who were seated with her. "Have you heard? Apperently the queen of Fare was spotted in Underwood." One of them said almost whispering.
Vashal crossed her arms, she seemed a little upset at the mention of the word Fare. " With the elves? the Farians may detest outside humans but I see no reason for them to get invovled with the elves."

"That's why it's so strange, for 1000 years they have been locked away in secret, and then all of a sudden their queen is in Underwood."

"it must have something to do with the well of darkness they just discovered. That's what I think." the second reasoned.

"But what would the elves of Underwood want with a well of death magic? It makes no sense." Vashal argued. "No you must be mistaken, fareians are forbidden to even look at an out sider, much less go live with them." Vashal said suddenly standing up clearly upset by something that was said.

Tess had zoned out of the conversation by that point, he was focused on something else, he leaned over to the guys sitting at his table. "Hey Varem, is it just me? or is Miss Vashal the hottest teacher of life. I swear it's like she was hand sculpted by the Gods."
They chuckled to them selves.

 

Emery Rose

Emery stared down at her food, picking at it with her fork. The food had an undercooked taste that she disliked, she was already missing her mother's cooking. She liked everything well done, not cold, but steaming.

Although, Emery guessed they would not eat for some time so she managed to swallow a few more bites. She sipped the drink given to her to keep from gagging.

After pushing away her plate, she took in her surroundings and eavesdropped on a few conversations.

"Hey Varem, is it just me? or is Miss Vashal the hottest teacher of life. I swear it's like she was hand sculpted by the Gods." Tess said it in a failed whisper. Emery frowned as she watched the boys laugh like maniacs. She just wanted to get to Grove and learn what this Well of Darkness held. She wanted to weave. They were restricted of their spells during travel and because of that Emery was beginning to have eather withdrawals. The fire burned inside her, wanting release, and dealing with these happy sappy people didn't help.

She turned to face the girls at her table, River, an airmid called Kithri, and another other girl called Carys. She studied Carys, who was of the same clan as her. Her hair had the color of hot embers, much like Emery's blood red hair. Yesterday, the girl seemed sweet and nice. But maybe that was all a show, a game. Emery was intrigued by her, and thought her worthy to speak with.

"Hello Carys, was it? I'm Emery. I couldn't help noticing we both come from Charon. Do you enjoy weaving charon eather too?"

 

Carys was feeling worse than ever; she had decided that the menfolk around her were either madmen, sweaty, nervous twitchy half-somethings, or silly adolescents. Her tried and tested 'damsel in distress' routine would probably fall on deaf ears, she realised, she might actually have to fight for real soon.

She rejected the food that was on offer; it looked weird- surely there should have been a menu to choose from?

Instead of eating Carys snuggled further down into her coat, and started to fantasise about burning down vampire dens, perhaps causing friendly fire to some of her more irritating classmates in the process.


Her reverie was interrupted by the other Charon. At first Carys had been disappointed that she wasn't the only Charon on the trip, she was used to seeing her flame-haired sisters as competition. This time though, she sensed that Emery might actually be the one of the strongest students on board, and that made her worthy of a little sucking up despite her attitude.


"Do you enjoy weaving charon eather too?"


Finally, a subject Carys could get into. "Oh absolutely, yes! My dear daddy taught me the basics when I was just a tiny girl, then when I was old enough he hired a tutor for me to learn from one-to-one. Of course, he had to leave after I burned off every hair on his body in a Conflagration accident- now that was completely unrelated to the 3 hours of homework he'd just given me...." Carys remembered the sucking up part of her plan and stopped blabbering. "Now I assume you do too? You look like you could handle yourself in a fight... er, in a very elegant way of course!"

 

Emery Rose

"Oh absolutely, yes! My dear daddy taught me the basics when I was just a tiny girl, then when I was old enough he hired a tutor for me to learn from one-to-one. Of course, he had to leave after I burned off every hair on his body in a Conflagration accident- now that was completely unrelated to the 3 hours of homework he'd just given me...." The girl paused for a minute, "Now I assume you do too? You look like you could handle yourself in a fight... er, in a very elegant way of course!"

Emery smiled. Not one out of spite, but as close to a friendly smile as she could make. The girl spoke of things that interested her, the words were like her own.

"Well, thank you. Your assumptions are correct, charon eather is what I live for. Along with merc that is, but I enjoy the affects the charon gives. The power that flows in your veins...oh yes, I love it." She rubbed her oynx stone between her fingers, as she continued speaking.

"I learned at a young age too, but was taught without a definite teacher. My brothers shaped me with their flaming antics. I needed to learn if I was to get what I wanted, or I was to be dropped into the ash."

Emery held out her hand to Carys in a nice gesture, her gleaming eyes locked onto hers. "Although we are alike that should not make us enemies. What do you say?"

 

Vashal

"Does Fare irritate you?" The stranger asked, Vashal who had her arms crossed and her brow furrowed "I'm fine, its nothing. If you'll excuse me." Vashal walked to the front of the chattering children and popped a spell to get their attention. She seemed irritated and no one wanted to face an irritated Vashal, so they went silent and paid attention.

"I hope you all enjoyed your meal because it s the last one we will have from here to the well of darkness. I know many of you have heard terrifying rumors about Grove. I assure you this trip is perfectly safe," She paused for a moment glaring at Tess who was still chatting away.
"That is if, you follow the rules. When we get there you will have to wade through copious amounts of Nox eather. In such high concentrations the Nox eather will kill you, slowly. There are paths leading through the Nox that have been illuminated by orbs of Althea. The Mages who invited us created these orbs to keep you safe, when traveling through that area stay on the pathways made by the orbs, and stay together." Veshal clapped her hands together twice. "Chop, chop students, after you are done eating head streight to the wind seer, we are living in 10 minutes.

 

Carys

"Although we are alike that should not make us enemies. What do you say?"

Carys grinned. With one hand hand reaching to meet Emery's outstretched palm, she raised a glass of juice with her free hand.

"I say, here's to getting what one wants!"

 

Lebry

After the strange reaction of William, Lebry decided to left him alone. A time later the group had a meal, and then departed into the wind seer. However Lebry just ate half of the food, he didn't really care about the strange look of it, still it didn't fit his tastes, whatever, one of the important things he knew that were teached to them, is to always be prepared for any kind of situation; so the other half of the food was now resting inside a little back that hung from his left shoulder to his left thigh.... perhaps is too late to metion it or not, but Lebry is ambidextrous, so to have a bag hanging on the left side of his body is equal comfortably as having it on his right side, however he reserved the right side to let rest a singular long sword; also on his back, a carcaj was lying, accompanied by a bow on its side.

Some people on the group was nervous, while others not, ones were even excited regarding this trip. Lebry's situation was a curious one though, he didn't felt any of these emotions; yet for some reason he felt good, as if his whole body were slowly being filled with a charming essence the closer they get to Grove, and he felt completely light and relaxed; so it wasn't so hard for him to end asleep over the wind seer, even if this was traveling at such high speed. In a matter of minutes snorts were coming from him, yet the wind gently hid them.

 

William

Unlike many others, William enjoyed the food quite a bit; it's easy for William to enjoy just about anything when he has to down a rather revolting potion every day to help with his hallucinations, and he was rather happy he didn't have to take any on this field-trip. He decided to strike up a conversation with his soup-bowl.

"Why, hello there, bowl. The soup you're feeding me may not be the best, but it's still tasty. Don't let those other students tell you otherwise."

As expected, there was no answer, which was precisely why William enjoyed the presence of inanimate objects.

Chop, chop students, after you are done eating head streight to the wind seer, we are living in 10 minutes.

'k.

He put down his spoon to take a sip of water, and when he looked back he saw a dark liquid inside it. William growled.

Nox eather! Those shadow-casting students are trying to kill me! Again!

After briefly scanning the table to make sure none of the Nox-using students were watching, William dumped the eather out of his spoon. But the eather didn't exactly fall down; rather, it fell upwards, boring a hole through his spoon in the process. It landed in a dark glob on the ceiling that was significantly larger than the small amount of eather in the spoon would allow. An eye grew out of the glob, then an arm, a foot, some hair... William soon lost count of the various body parts. Finally, a mouth appeared, filled with the kind of sharp teeth you saw on the front of vicious carnivores, and in an instant dropped from the ceiling and bit William's head off.

He yelped, and when he opened his eyes he saw his spoon, with no hole in it, lying on the floor besides him. There was no sign of the eather. None of the other students seemed to notice anything; in fact, they were starting to leave. William filed out after them and boarded the seer. Along the way, one of the Nox-users - Lebry - wore this strange look of relaxation on his face, and there were several more hallucinations.

William decided that he wasn't so happy about not taking the potion this trip after all.

 

River Hoya

The soup had been amazing! Ripe green tarrigan bark, dorian root and the flesh of a sweet fish. Such items were often hard to come by in Daluan Forest but it must have been abundent here. She polished off her bowl and was about to ask for a second when Vashal called for everyone to leave. She sighed sadly then got to her feet, leaving the bowl in it's place. William was still sitting in his seat muttering. Suddenly his eyes got wide and he let out a yelp as if something were about to attack him.
But just as soon as the strange reaction had started, it stopped; and William followed the students out the door with a grumpy look on his face as always. She wondered why he always looked so sullen, and maybe even afraid. Such a curious personality for a human boy so young.

The students borded a seer and River purposefully placed herself in front of the strange boy. Hopefully he would be open enough to explain some things about himself. When the seer was in the air and everyone else seemed occupied, River shifted her body so she could easily see William. "Greetings to you William. You probably don't know me. I'm River. We were in several of the same classes together but you always sat behind everyone. Are you glad to have been chosen." She smiled sweetly, attempting to make him feel more comfortable.

 

Zothecula, Restless

Zothecula was still feeling restless and uneasy, and it was building in his chest. Soon he would have an melt down. But he found the oppurtunity to sip his Laudanum. When everyone was headed back to the seer, he took a drink and instantly felt relief from his anxiety. But maybe he drank too much, because he felt a little clumsy and his words slurred a bit. His senses were also dulled, which is probably why he ended up sitting near that crazy William guy. Zothecula had noticed earlier that he tended to talk to himself--he had a little experience with madness, being so close to Nox. It kinda came with the being a shadow-user. He didn't know enough to heal William's mental illness, but Laudanum would definitely ease his nerves. That girl River was trying to talk to William when Zothecula neared them.

Zoth sat behind William and said, "Psst!" He tapped William's shoulder, something he never would have done usually, physical contact freaked him out. It was one of Zoth's "issues". But the Laudanum he had taken had loosened him up, he even grinned a little. "Hey, William--I've noticed your noodle isn't all the way cooked. But I think I've got something for that...you interested?" He waggled his brows and patted his leather box where the Laudanum was hidden.

 

William

Greetings to you William. You probably don't know me. I'm River. We were in several of the same classes together but you always sat behind everyone. Are you glad to have been chosen.

"Kinda," he muttered, "riding the seer is kinda neat, I guess. But it's not worth the risk."

His voice dropped to a whisper. "See all those Nox users around us? They want to kill me. All of them. Just like how they killed my-" He swallowed and stopped himself; he didn't want another scene like he had with Lebry. "Anyways, it doesn't help we're going to Grove. They'll be at their strongest there. They might try to kill you and any other students who don't follow their dark ways as well, so watch your back. "

He was about to go on about the various ways to avoid Nox, but then one of the horrible users himself spoke up.

Hey, William--I've noticed your noodle isn't all the way cooked. But I think I've got something for that...you interested?

William looked at the box in his hands. "What is this, shadow-user? If you're trying to kill me, think again; I have River on my side now, and you can't take both of us at once." A sort of harsh laugh erupted from him as he said this.

 

"If you're trying to kill me, think again; I have River on my side now, and you can't take both of us at once."

Zothecula's goofy grin faded. He leaned back and scowled. "Not both of you, but I bet I could take you", he replied, trying not to slur. The effects of the Laudanum were beginning to wear off and he was starting to get pissed. "Im only trying to help you. But if you don't want some of my, eh, potion--how bout we deul? Here and now?" Zoth's wispy thin robes flapped around him as he stood and gazed darkly at William. Already he was calling Nox to him to weave attack spells and his shadow-rimmed eyes seemed to turn darker. The Laudanum was making him reckless. Even so, a part of him knew what he was doing. He was tired of being looked down on because he was a shadow-user. It wasn't something he could control, Nox chose him. And he was going to teach William a lesson for all the times he was shunned.