Thread: The Journey ((Vivid and MM))

Cedric was waiting with everyone else, enjoying the singers and dancers. Young women, older, young men. One young man whose hair was the most impressive thing about himself sang a popular song badly with so much overwrought feeling, it was more laughable than heartfelt, but nobody mocked him openly, and they cheered his effort. It was more for later days that he would be teased, but in a friendly manner all that happened during the festival for the Goddess was supposed to be in good fun. The music and noise washed over Cedric, but he didn't shield his ears the heat from the hearth and the bodies packed in the commons pressed against him, but he didn't sweat the flickering light from all the candles and torches and the fire in the hearth could cause some to shade their eyes, but he just gazed on. All the energies that hit him that were unpleasant, he simply converted, stored, used to recharge his inner wellspring of power. He could perceive them, not in any sense that he could translate they weren't like visual rays or diagrams though he sometimes wondered if he perceived light as more of a wave or a beam, but he could sense them anyway, their type and degree, where they were around him, what direction they were going. If he wanted to, he could have amplified a scullery-maid's whisper in the kitchen to his ears, or snuffed it so that not even the whisperer could have heard herself. He could have blanketed the whole commons in utter blackness, or increased the glare of all the candles to blind everyone in the room, perhaps permanently. But he did none of these things the most he did was sense when a note from one of the minstrel players was sour, and corrected it before it spoiled the sound for the rest of the room. He was happy, he was safe, there was no reason to do anything else. And then, the innkeeper shushed everyone. We have a special performance this evening, a traveling minstrel from far-off lands. Let's all give her the full courtesy of a Pleasant Bottoms audience! She began the clapping, and looked to the side room, and Cedric looked over with full anticipation and a wide grin on his face. --- A homing pigeon flies fast, when it is hungry and homesick. It only took a few hours for it to wing its way over the leagues that had taken Iona and the guardsmen days, even weeks, to traverse on foot. It arrived in the dead of night, and the night-shift message-master noted the time and took the message. It was important enough, he sighed, and screwed his courage to the sticking point. The Emperor would want to hear about this right away. The Emperor was not asleep yet he was very much a night-loving person, very active during the time the sun was not. He was currently in his alchemical laboratory. Some claimed he had been gifted by the Enemy with an evil power to make the elements do what he willed, but the inner staff of the Imperial Palace knew it was due to hard work and study. He approached everything with a kind of scary intensity, though, so it was perfectly understandable that people might think it a supernatural gift. The Emperor glanced up when the night message-master knocked and entered. Ah... Dakka, is it? Come, witness this. He lit a straw with a nearby torch, and then touched it to his experiment. Something hissed, and there was a bang. Dakka blinked at the report, and was so surprised his ears barely registered the light gong from the other end of the table. The Emperor, however, was elated. Yes! It worked, Dakka, it worked! The explosive was sufficient to propel the lead weight to the gong! Think of it if I can develop a way to turn this into a weapon, it would be more powerful than a crossbow, and even easier for a single soldier to use. It could make my armies unstoppable! He paused for breath, his eyes blazing, envisioning the ramifications, the possibilities, and then he suddenly paused. But you have a message, yes? Let me see it. He read the small slip of paper, and his grin turned even scarier, which Dakka hadn't thought possible. Excellent. The secret to success, Dakka, is not to rely entirely on one single thing. If you have opportunities and skills to try several approaches, do so. I have the power of the elements ready to be unlocked, and the power of the Gods soon to be in my grasp... well, the Goddess, at least. If only I had been gifted with mystical understandings, as well, I wouldn't have to rely on the Court Wizards. Regardless, this is good news. You've done well, Dakka. Go back to your post. The night message-master disappeared with little more than a relieved breath, and the Emperor turned back to his research. His mind was flashing with ideas, with plans, with possibilities, and all of them to one goal extending his power over the known world. And beyond, if he could manage it.