Set
"Don’t you ever tame your demons; but always keep them on a leash. "
It had not been his intention, to make his move so near the hour of his return.
The Plague. A contagion seeping across kingdom and commonland alike, the dark promises of some ancient pestilence. It had spurred him from his (relatively) indolent existence to put together the foundation of his plan, but it is Niklas’ actions that have urged him to motion. His self-serving son had gone to the north, no doubt attracted to the ice-capped isle for its near-perpetual darkness. A link, like a drawn out strand of spider’s silk, keeps the piebald mage constantly cognizant of the demon’s comings and goings. It is down this tensile length that Set senses the emotional tremors – the kingdom in the north facing off against the wicked resistance on a newly – to most of them, at least – raised isle. Brennen – his gold-colored eyes roll with slavering anticipation when the bay magician inserts himself into the anxious gathering – and Phasus are the only ones that he recognizes through the void of Niklas’ eyes.
He groans in anticipation, low and trembling, locking his jaw together and drawing on one of his oldest magicks. It is through the bodies of strangers that he teleports, undiscerning in species as he skips northward from one soul to another, only careful to avoid the infected. Through the dense Forest – a tail unfurled for balance as he leaps from one tree to another, the hough-hough of a badger fortifying her den, the wild heartbeat of a small mouse running for it’s life. Rolling hills and another forest pass beneath him in a blur before he plunges into the frigid waters surrounding the island. The waters are thick with silence. He can hear only the sound of his own breath as he twists and churns around the ice floes, leaving the seal’s body for the orca’s just as predator snatches prey.
Warm blood reddens the water before quickly coagulating in grotesque ropes around his head. An explosion rocks the waters above him – the top has blown off the quarreling crowd, he suspects – and the black and white whale he possesses turns back toward open water. With the ease of an acrobat slipping from one bar to another, Set leaves the sea for his son’s body. He is normally loath to possess Niklas – he’s never encountered a mind as dark as he and Ana’s creation – but it is a temporary necessity and it’s through his eyes that he surveys the incident. Someone (he does not expend the energy to find out) has disintegrated a small swathe of the island’s shore. Niklas had exhaled a wall of darkness, the thickly layered, armored sort, but had not bothered to remain tangible long enough to see if his defense had protected anyone. He had sunk back into the shadows. It is here Set finds him, surveying the damage, though the dust is still too thick to see much of anything. Rather than materializing himself, the mage grasps ahold of his son’s essence and drags the darkness along with him.
The lemmings are waiting there, milling aimlessly about the icy shore of the pond near the center of the island. Niklas, uninterested in leaving his shadow form just yet, drifts off into the thick willows. Set watches him go – not far, just there – and then turns his attention to the arctic rodents. A genuine smile softens his mouth as he tasks them. Chirruping excitedly, they set off to find their charges at land speeds rivaling a cheetah’s.
The lemmings will attempt to find each of Icicle Isles claimants – Camomila, Leilan, Phasus, any other with an official claim – and deliver their cheeky message. “Our Friend would like to discuss your claims on his land,” they’ll say, in a common tongue. "By the pond, near the willows," they will quip after your pause of hesitation, and when you look into their dark little eyes, you may feel strongly the importance of your attendance, perhaps if only to satisfy your curiosities. Or suspicions. Stretched out behind them is a path that will lead you back to where you will find him, should you choose to follow.
SET
alliance champion, once king, mage
ooc - I kept trying to stick him in the other thread and so I wasn't sure where to go with this, but, Set wants to play -shrugs-
@Camomila
@Phasus
@Leilan