The Annual Harvest [Open]

[Cana]

Falona walked through the village, practically gliding across the icy ground. She move with swift gracefulness, her black hooded cloak hiding anything to suggest that she was female. She hated coming down to cheerful villages. She would have preferred to send her demons to round up the annual harvest, but they were never good at picking the ripest specimens. She rolled her eyes. It annoyed her deeply that her own minions didn't have the brains to choose wisely. But having to come down to the villages to do it herself was outright maddening. She silently entered a tavern, taking a lowly table without even bothering to order anything. She wasn't in the mood. Falona sat at the table, completely cloaked, looking similar to a grim reaper. It made her smirk to feel the watchful eyes of startled men casting concerned glances in her direction. She could smell their fear, and it eased her anger. Her hidden eyes searched their faces hungrily, looking for anything of interest in their souls. As someone walked into the tavern, however, her concentration lapsed, her interest shifting to the person who had come into her view.

[Lion]

There were no prayers for the dying, not where he was concerned.  His place had been one of desperation, constantly jumping from one body to another, when his was no longer in the ripest of conditions.  It was 'bitch' to say the least, but even such a description was a severe understatement.  Few knew of his condition, that the only thing permanent about his apparent vampirism was his spirit, which only gave certain attributes to the body he possessed.  And even fewer still knew that with this state came a constant search to find something that would make him permanent, to maintain the youth and strength of the body he possessed.  That of young Corvus Brahm.

He never thought he'd travel this far north, away from the comfort of his estate, all to follow a story, a legend really, of the Sorceress of the North, or so the story was told.  He braved Mordecai country before, and to do it again only made him realize his desperation.   To find a solution to his 'problem'.  It seemed every possible avenue he found, only seemed to be a dead-end.  But he'd never been so determined before in his life to find an answer.  And it seemed this time, he just might.

He'd heard the stories of the Sorceress who somehow managed to preserve herself for years beyond the mortal coil.  But how?  He'd heard vague tales of her magic, able to harvest souls, using demons and the like.  The very thought of it intrigued him, made him curious.  And curiosity was all he needed to drive him to this secluded village in the tundra, the air brisk, night air cold as the sun steadily faded below the mountain range.  Corvus would make his assessment tomorrow, ask the people around about this strange and mysterious woman.

He walked into the only tavern in town, and pulled down the collar of his cloak, stepping inside with door behind him slamming shut.  Few people glanced up at him, and those that did, his quick eyes saw traces of fear that swirled in them before they turned back to their meager conversations, occasionally looking around the room again, trying to remain inconspicuous.  Corvus set his eyes across the room as he slowly walked in, noticing one pair of them hadn't removed them from his person, and he furrowed his brow in thought, seeing the woman across the way.  He met her eyes for a moment, looking her over and eventually turning around, almost snuffing her gaze and turning his attention to the bar at one end of the tavern.  He took a seat and looked at the bartender.

"What'll ye be havin' sir?" the sweaty old man said, cleaning a glass, and peering at him as if nothing was amiss.

"It's quite cold outside," Corvus murmured in response.  "How bout something to warm the blood?  A brandy would do in that case."

"Ahem, of course," the bartender nodded to him.  He held out his hand expectantly, rubbing his fingers together.

Corvus smirked and reached into his coat pocket, pulling out a single gold coin and dropping it into his hand.  "That should do."

The bartender seemed more than pleased at the generosity, when really the drinks were awfully cheap here.  "Ah, yes, well, it should, I 'spect.  I'll get that brandy to ye right away then."  He nodded again, smiling through his mustache and moved to fix his drink.  All the while, Corvus could still feel eyes on him.

[Cana]

Falona studied the new man as he sat at the bar. She could feel the intensity of his soul rising inside of him from her gaze. She licked her lips, giddy from the prospect of a newer soul. The bartender looked at her, quickly going back into the kitchen as she slowly stood. Falona slowly waved her hands across the room, the lights dimming to a dull glow. The people cried out in fright a nd began cowering below their tables. She removed her hood, the only thing visible about her being her luminescent turquoise eyes. Now the villagers' eyes were opened. The Dark Sorceress of the North had returned.

[Lion]

Corvus heard the cries of the tavern patrons and when the bartender made himself scarce, he pulled the brandy closer to him, remaining calm despite the candles running low and the atmosphere suddenly becoming gloomier.  He took a sip, but soon furrowed his brow when he felt a presence standing out among all else in the room.  Corvus turned in his stool and looked over at the same woman that had been eying him when he came in.

He didn't know for sure, but something told him, this was the woman he was looking for.  Particularly if all the other patrons literally cowered in her presence.  "Is this your seat?" he asked with a perked brow, taking another drink of his brandy.  "I can move if you like."

[Cana]

Hearing the man speak, Falona smirked and turned to face him. "So, a traveler has wandered into my village. How intriguing," her eyes flashed. Her looming figure slowly walked over to him. "Your soul is so bright. So strong. Even now, I can see it in your eyes. Do you feel it? The way it rises the closer I come to you? That is how you know it is bright. It comes to me freely, without fighting against the pull of my power." She reached her hand out slightly to demonstrate. She could see the bright light of the soul coming into the man's eyes, practically begging her to release it. She smiled darkly. "How tantalizing," she purred.

[Lion]

Corvus smirked at the woman that approached him and he took another sip of his drink and set it on the bar behind him.  Yet his brows furrowed and his eyes narrowed and his lips turned into a frown.  He felt the pull of her power on his soul and internally he felt his soul cling desperately to the vessel of his body as her body seemed almost a magnet to him, calling him.  He stood up and stood closer to her, staring her eye to eye.  His mouth slowly turned into a grin and he peered at her challengingly.  "You could be asking for more than you bargained for," he replied.  "But it just so happens I've been looking for someone just like you...  Are you really as powerful as the stories say?"

[Cana]

Falona's penetrating gaze met his, alluring and cold at the same time. She grinned evilly. "'Tis foolish to question one whom you do not know of, boy. If you came here to hunt me, you made a poor choice of prey. If you came here to see my power, then watch. Watch and be warned." She hissed the last sentence and turned to the frightened villagers. With both hands raised, she stared into space, her eyes now glowing a blinding turquoise. The atmosphere of the room twisted and shifted, sadness and anger raging war with one another. There was one unison gasp from the villagers as glowing white orbs rose from all of their bodies. The orbs rushed to Falona one by one, each disappearing into her torso. When the final orb disappeared, She turned to face him, her eyes livid. "Let this be a lesson. I hope you learned well." Then she smiled devilishly and vanished in a cloud of black smoke. The lights returned to normal in the tavern. All of the villagers were dead. 

[Lion]

Corvus's eyes truly widened at the feat, watching the orbs flow into her torso, the very atmosphere falling in on itself, warping and Corvus grit his teeth in resistance to that force.  His soul was strong indeed and could not be forced out so easily and even as she made short work of all the patrons in the tavern, he did not let fear show in his expression.

And just like that she was gone.  Corvus ran out into the icy winds, hair billowing up as he saw the great fortress on the mountain.  He smiled out in the darkness, eyes narrowing against the glare of the moon.  Oh, he took the lesson well, and knew that that was the woman he was looking for.  He set out toward the narrow mountain path that treacherously scaled it's heights and planned to meet her again, even on her own ground.

He had to know her secret, and he felt he'd just gotten a taste of it back at the tavern.

[Cana]

Falona stared angrily down out the Seeing Well. It was refusing to show her anything. She slapped the water, some of it spilling over onto her skirt. "Useless! You're useless!" She fumed. Her Demon General came into the room. As always, Stractaar was slow and ghastly, flame erupting from his molten form every time he moved. "Mistress," He said in a flat, raspy voice, "The prisoners are ready." Falona nodded. "Bring them." Stractaar nodded, and left the room. As she waited, Falona could feel a familiar weakness pulse in her body. Black veins appeared around her eyes and began moving up her arms. She shook them down, using her magic to quicken the prisoners' arrival. Finally they came, shackled, into the room. She grabbed one by the neck. He choked as his soul passed into her, falling limp in her grip. She threw him down and grabbed the young woman. She drained the woman's youth, her skin becoming wrinkled and thin. At last, Falona took her soul as well. She gave the bodies to Stractaar. "Feast tonight." He smiled a horrible way and practically galloped out. Falona leaned against the wall, suddenly exhausted. Weak souls could only sustain her for so many decades. She rubbed her chest where the black opal had dissolved into her. Why was her power becoming such a burden? She went back to the Seeing Well. It must know something, anything, that could answer her question. But she had asked it so many times through the years, so why would it answer her now?

[Lion]

Corvus crawled through the ice and snow, the wind was savage against his skin.  Curse the physicality of his body that though he had a higher elemental resistance, he could feel ice forming inside his bones.  But as he finally reached the doors of the fortress, all shivering thoughts left him as he pressed his hands to iron and stone, the cold therin powerful and nearly freezing his hands against the surface.  His cloak whipped behind him when his hands began to burn with magic fire and the will of it burned against the ice, steam rising from his hands.

Corvus lit his whole body aflame until he was almost spectral, pulling his physicality through the door? Feeling it tear at his form until he passed through the wall, falling into the darkness of the otherside.  Fire vanished in a wisp of purple smoke as he penetrated the walls of the fortress Sorceress of the North.  He would find her secret and he knew it was hidden somewhere within these walls.

[Cana]

Falona felt him. The strong-soul from the tavern. He was here. Her eyes flashed with excitement as she sensed the strong elemental magic radiating from him. Finally, a challenger who could fight back. Falona walked down the cavernous corridors. She glanced on either side of her, making sure no one was watching, and opened the secret entrance to her tower. It was a little dramatic, she knew, to even have a Summoning Tower, but this was a situation where a tower would make it all the more entertaining. She climbed the endless spiral staircase and finally entered the small room at the top. The room had little light, and what was there was coming from a large circular mirror against the wall. Falona walked up to the mirror. She brushed it lightly with her fingers , murmuring the ancient spell to activate it. The mirror rippled and changed. Now, the strong-soul was clearly reflected to her. He was in the Entrance Hall. Falona smirked. "You want Hell? Well then this is your lucky day, strong-soul. Hell is my specialty." Her eyes glowed again, and in the mirror the floor around him began to morph into a lake of shifting black liquid. She placed a hand on the mirror and spoke in a seductive yet cold voice. "Ah, so you chose to visit my humble abode, strong-soul? I do hope it is to your liking. If not, then I guess I'll have to make it that way." Her voice echoed through the palace. The black liquid rose into many pillars. The pillars turned into all of the villagers from the tavern. "Now, my children. Welcome our guest."

[Lion]

Corvus fwlt the groung waver beneath him, shifting like black silk and a powerful voice echoed out through the Entrance Hall that reverberated through his very being.  He scowled up at the darkness , but there was a smirk of admiration on his face as the shapes began to form around him.  "Oh I quite like the warm welcome," he quipped.  "You certainly know how to treat a guest to your hospitality.  However, the black is a little excessive don't you think?  It kills the mystery."  Fire alit his hands and he scorched the spectres of the villagers as they lingered closer.  Cries of their suffering echoing in the hall.

[Cana]

Falona rolled her eyes. "Do you really think your flame is useful here? I control the gates of Hell, boy. You were very unwise to enter with your feeble embers, hoping to match against my inferno." She laughed with cruel malice. She then began a chant in a language so ancient that it had been lost to all except her. Her voice was hypnotically seductive, and the floor began to open beneath the strong-soul. Demons of every shape and form came from the very threshold of Hell itself, their skin glowing with internal flames. "Stractaar, you know what to do," Her voice cooed. The largest of the demons twisted it mangled face into something that must've been a smile, and roared, "Kill him!" The demons charged.   

[Lion]

Corvus felt the maw of hell itself open up beneath him and his feet shifted as it opened between his legs and he leapt to his left as beasts of the darkest matter began to crawl out from within, free of their chains.  He knew there was no immediate way to pause her assault to reason with her in this moment, and felt himself angered by her lack of patience. 

He felt his form alter, his body become thicker as he transformed from his meager stature to one more in tune with the vampiric soul that possessed that body.  Black leathery wings sprouted from his back, bones torn away long ago, and his eyes yellowed as claws sprouted from his hands. He agreed.  His flames would be no match for hers, not here for this was her domain and he was but an intruder within these walls.  Even as he clawed and tore at demon's left and right, their ashen forms shredding beneath his strength, their numbers began to gradually overwhelm him. 

"I am not here to challenge you, Sorceress," he cried out.  "I offer myself as a servant!"  Fire encased his form as the largest of the horde came upon him and he swung left and right, casting them back into the mouth whence they came.  But their own teeth had made their marks, and scratched and wounded him where he'd been too slow to defend.  He was becoming desperate, and closed in his defenses as he began to fight even more savagely.

[Cana]

Falona watched the boy fight, pleasantly amused that he was a little demon himself. She formed an invisible barrier between him and her demons. All who were on the boy's side of the barrier dissolved into nothingness. Stractaar held a hand up to stop his army. "You have fought valiantly, strong-soul. Though you offer your service, I am no fool. Trust is not easily earned here. You must prove yourself." Falona's voice boomed. She appeared before him from a column of flame, Every demon kneeling in her presence. She stared at the boy with cold eyes. "Here am I. I have seen your power, boy. Tis most admirable. However, It will take far more than your power to earn my favor. I accept your service." She reached her hand to the boy's forehead. She lightly brushed it with her fingertips, leaving an insignia on his head. She looked directly into his eyes. "As of now, you are mine."

[Lion]

He fell to his knees once the last demon vanished underneath the barrier between him and the horde and he stayed there exhaustedly, peering up at her demon general and soon her voice echoed inside him once again.  It worked, damn the gods it worked.  But inside him, he couldn't shake the feeling that he'd just signed himself over to the darkest demon he could have ever faced.  And yet...

Corvus stood in her presence, unlike the other demons who knelt.  "I am a man, not a boy.  But it's not my power that I wish to prove.  It's my loyalty," he breathed, staring her eye to eye.  But no sooner did she brush her hands against his forehead did he suddenly seethe in pain as the insignia burned itself into his flesh.  He pressed his hand to it and glare at her with burning eyes.  "What - what was that!?" he cried out.

[Cana]

Falona smiled a beautifully cruel smile. "A mark of possession. If you go anywhere I don't tell you to, for example, outside the palace walls, that insignia will burn so hot and so bright that you will be blind with pain. The same if you disobey me in any way. You see, I don't merely let my minions wander about on their own free will. Otherwise, I might as well just share every one of my secrets with them, in which case I would have to kill them, and by then they'd be useless." She chuckled darkly. "But, then again, you are a special case. Seeing as you are a vampire, I shall give you access to my prisoners. You'll see that I have quite a selection. Just remember to leave some for me." She winked, wicked playfulness dancing in her eyes. "Now, are there any questions, Corvus?" She grinned evilly.   

[Lion]

He internally clenched his teeth at what he'd just fallen into, but he made no word against it as he just peered at her with wild eyes.  He finally calmed once most of the pain subsided and physically relaxed in her presence.  He grinned at her offer, though his eyes glittered darkly, much like the night stars.  He could not question her reasoning not, when she held all the cards in her favor and he so foolishly broke into the walls of her domain.  But he knew how to be patient, to bide his time and lowered his head to her in what might be construed as a bow.

He slowly turned his head up and peered at her through raised brows.  "I don't fear pain.  It is only a reminder that you're still alive after all," he commented idly.  "But I do have one question: I will serve you, but what do I get in return?  No deal is ever made without quid pro quo, and I can tell by looking at you that you've done your fair share of deals.  And if not, then you simply take what you want without asking, as I've seen first hand.  But this is different.  You could have taken what you wanted, and yet you choose to accept me instead."  Corvus looked at the demons that bowed around her, wondering why they were so eager to kneel, was it of true devotion, or fear?

[Cana]

Falona smiled widely, genuinely entertained. "Stractaar," she said in the cruel voice that only she could master, "leave us. Now." Obediently, the demons flocked out the door. She walked a slow, appraising circle around Corvus. "I can see your soul. With it every want and desire you have ever felt. I can see your past and your present, but your future is clouded. I can feel the lust for power, burning so long and so bright that you can no longer feel the pain of torment." She stopped in front of him. "I knew this pain once. A very long time ago. It berated my feelings, clouded my judgement. I took whatever was necessary to make power mine. In the end, I thought it would destroy me. But, fate has an interesting way of working its magic. My power did not destroy me. It sided with me. It allowed itself to be mine. It refuses to part with me." She stared directly into his eyes. "You and I have that in common. I spared you because you could be so much more. So, in return for your service to me, I will give you your heart's desire. Power. Power that sides with you." Falona grinned. "How does that sound?" 

[Lion]

Corvus surprised himself when he too jumped at the voice that commanded the demons to leave.  But he stared at her eye to eye, forcing his fear to subside from his features as she spoke.  He stepped closer nearly nose for nose as he gave a small smile.  "Power is ever so frugal is it not?" he chcukled lightly that rumbled deep in his throat.  "I guess I was a fool to think I could hide my feelings that were really so transparent.  But could you really give me everything I desire?  There must be limits to even the most powerful of beings.  What makes you the exception?  How did power 'side' with you?"