[Open] Blackened trails of twisted charcoal; no smoke, only fire....

[through_fire_be_reborn]

Characters: Anyone investigating the will o the wisp in the White Forest
Open? Yep!
Where: The White Forest, just outside Schwanheim
When: GHB 2
What: There's a living fire searching the White Forest for what's been lost...


Far too long had the Avatar of Order been shrouded in secret. The decoy of the King was only a hollow shell, nothing like the Avatar who had shattered the last to have come of Chaos. Shared duties between the Voice and the one who carried the true power of the one they served were not uncommon, but for Order to have only it's Voice visible...

But that had changed. Oh, had it changed... to see that power before her, smothered and stagnant in that tiny shell...

Her laugh echoed like shattering glass in the woods as her flames darted from branch to branch, followed by an airy sing song as the leaves behind her turned brown and smoked.

"Come out, come out, it's time to play,
Come out, come out, face the sun of day,
The Reaper has come to take you home,
For no longer is it here your place to roam..."

Another laugh as she zigzagged through birch, leaving blackened stripes along the pale trunks. She could feel it. Closer now... where, oh where was it hiding~ With the old Avatar dead and the new in such a state... that symbol could be torn to shreds and Orders power further shattered...

Comments

[golden_moon]

It wasn't exactly easy laying hands on pants and a simple shirt, and less so sneaking out while wearing them, but Selene had managed to sneak past werewolves in the past; a few castle staff and the odd human guard weren't exactly a high challenge. She was a little worried about being a thief, but at least there was a nice, fat pile of coins in place of the cheap clothing she'd taken. More than enough, really, to cover the costs.

Several of the women who worked in the castle had told her about the dark forest South of the city, and all of the dangers held within. Though tempting, today, she only intended to stretch her legs. It had been a while since she was about outside of a city, so the more peaceful forest to the North was her destination today.

The smell of fire, though, grew as she entered the forest, and despite herself, she moved towards it. It didn't smell like a campfire, but it wasn't a forest fire, either. She found marks across the trees, a path marked by heat. She touched the black on a trunk, and pulled her hand back, fingertips dark with ash.

The smell was old in one direction, newer, sharper, in the other. She started down the path, wiping her fingers on her pants. It never even occurred to her not to follow it; it had been years since she'd done anything exciting, and whatever lies she told her brother about wanting a normal life, running a shop after everything they'd been through was just so boring.

This, on the other hand, didn't seem likely to end in boredom at all. Selene simply couldn't resist.

[through_fire_be_reborn]

The trail of blackened foliage made it look as if the fire that had scorched it had been literally leaping from tree to tree, sometimes leaving a patch as wide as five feet between burned patches as it went deeper into the woods.

'Hiding so well, you're hiding so well~
But what hath the dead to protect, pray tell~?
Mock me no more, let your treasure be found,
Else this whole wood shall I burn to the ground~'

The singing voice echoed through out the wood, light and airy, seeming carried on the breeze along with the smell of heat and ash.

[golden_moon]

Selene tugged at the ties along the front of her shirt, loosening them. As the smell of buring grew stronger, she wanted to be able to pull it off easily. It would only get in the way if she was to become a wolf.

When the first hints of a voice reached her ears, she stopped, growling a little. A minute, long enough to pull her boots off and tie them together, so that she could throw them over her shoulder.

She was hunting, now, by nose and ear. It didn't take much to come upon trees still warm, to catch a glimpse of light ahead, moving on. She quickened her step.

[through_fire_be_reborn]

The glimmering twist of gold, orange and red seems to dance as it sways from side to side, to smaller flames that resembled arms reaching out from the sides to mark the trees as it goes by.

'Find you, I'll find you, you cannot stay hidden~
I'll burn you, I'll burn you, rip out your secrets unbidden~
I will not bend, only break~
And from your ashes, all your power take~'

The singing was louder, clearly echoing out from the flame itself.

Under the base of the spire of fire as the charred leaves and moss blow away, there's a small section of pale stone that emerges, flat and smooth.

[golden_moon]

Even some experience with...unusual...situations didn't quite prepare her for talking fire. She blinked, and stumbled, and generally ruined the whole stalking thing she'd been good about until then by running into a bush.

A bit of colour in her cheeks, she stepped away from the bush, tossing her boots aside. "Excuse me," she said, lifting her chin. She may have been caught by surprise, but damn it all, she's a princess here and she was going to act like it. "What are you?"

[consultmybooks]

Well, one half of his vision had been accounted for, in the worst way possible.

...Giles was, if he was honest with himself, dreading what the second half might bring. Especially because of the feelings he'd associated with it - feelings of familiarity, and pain - that he hadn't mentioned to anyone else so far. He had his fears of what might happen, but visions were uncertain things.

He wanted to be sure. Uncertainty was always the worst part.

And so, the clasp of invisibility pinned to his cloak, Giles crept through the woods. He could see that the fire had been through here, feel the heat it had left behind. Whatever was causing it was probably close, and Giles was doing his best to remain undetected for as long as he could.

[through_fire_be_reborn]

There were gaps in the line, as if the flame had leapt from tree to tree. In patches, the trunks were scarred, in others, the leaves and in many places, it seemed almost as if a hand had been run over the surface of whatever was near by, leaving behind the blackened line.

'Come now, come now, hide no longer,
For no matter how long you hide, I will always be stronger,
Your secrets shall I pry up from your grave,
and nothing you once cherished will you e're be able to save...'

The voice was closer, louder, echoing from all directions, airy and familiar as it sang.

[consultmybooks]

Quite familiar - Benu had erased some very important memories, but she hadn't completely erased Giles' knowledge of her existence.

He knew that voice. He knew that singing. And now he knew that it was evil.

Her chant made it seem to Giles as though she still couldn't see him. Or at least, he hoped that was the case. Rather than revealing himself yet, he drew closer to the trunk of a reasonably unscathed tree, and focused on trying to pinpoint where, if anywhere, her voice was coming from.

[through_fire_be_reborn]

The voice was hard to pin point as it echoed, but the smell of flames was stronger from deeper with in the forest.

At Giles' feet lay a bigger clue. A small patch of carefully laid stone, all but covered in glass and leaves peeked up through the forest floor's cover.

[consultmybooks]

Giles noticed the stone just as he was about to set off, deeper into the forest. He paused, staring down at it for a few seconds.

...well, that wasn't natural in the slightest.

Trusting to the fact that Benu seemed to be at least a little ways away, Giles knelt down to tug and pull at the grass, push the leaves aside. It wasn't not the first time his newfound senses had told him that something seemingly insignificant might be important.

[canistricari]

Coyote trotted through the woods, cheerfully wandering in search of the presence he had sensed. Chaos and Order meant very little to him, but whatever it was in the woods promised to be entertaining.

[through_fire_be_reborn]

Following the bunt trail would lead to a twisting and dancing flame, gracefully leaping from tree to tree as it sang nonsense.

'To me, to me,
all must to be,
Hide no more
show to me your door~'

[canistricari]

Ah, and there it was. A Will-o-the-Wisp, it looked like! Well that explained the energy he had felt, then. Coyote started skipping as he approached and circled the thing playfully.

"Hello, hello! I haven't seen you before..."

...welp. Crappy rhymes this time. Sorry!

[through_fire_be_reborn]

There was a light, airy laughter like the shattering of glass.

'A thing to be seen, am I not,
A thing to be felt, is what is got,
Things seen thus can be so ignored,
A thing once felt, of it can you not become bored.'

<3

[canistricari]

Coyote cackled in return.

"Oh, I like you! I hope you stay!"

[folklorist]

He knows he shouldn't go in alone, but all of this leaves him with a foreboding sense on his mind. Something was definitely not right, Helios just didn't know what. The smell of fire. The smell of fire brought back very bad memories of the previous days. Benu had smelled the same way...maybe he shouldn't go in. But the pain in his chest only got more persistent as he stood outside the forest.

It hurt, but not enough to be a concern, yes. His words to Giles still ring in his ears as he looks around, stepping onto a leaf latent path. The only sound are the crunch of his boots as he steps further into the forest. Caution and wariness doting every feature of him.

[through_fire_be_reborn]

In the far distance, the sing song continues, seeming to weave in and out in strength and direction, the trail of scorched greenery similarly random, a thicker line on one tree, a thinner on another, and then a small circle untouched before a section of naught but smoking limbs lay left.

[folklorist]

He knows he shouldn't, but the song is distracting and somehow tantalizing to find. He swallows thickly and takes a deep breath of the charred air, before he heads further into the forest.

He'll duck and weave through the fallen and burnt branches, no other fire around the area. It's strange but not too much for a magical place like this.

[through_fire_be_reborn]

Just up ahead is the tell tale signs of flickering orange and red, the fire itself slow moving, drifting and almost distracted as it sways from side to side.

'No more to hide, that time has past,
I'll find you yet, your face aghast,
Your thin white hands, pull them away,
for now I'm here, and here shall stay'

[folklorist]

Helios' eyes widen in evident surprise as he moves behind charred remains of a rather broad tree. He'll watch the fire closely before moving closer and closer to it. The last thing he needed was for another contact like the one he had with Benu. His hands are clammy as he slowly makes his way towards it, keeping a fair amount of distance between himself and the fire.

[brosif]

Sif has fallen into a habit, as of late, that she never would have in Asgard: hunting alone.

In the capital, there was never need or time for it. The kitchens were well stocked. On quests, she always had a companion. On the farm, she was sometimes called upon to gather dinner, but only when her father was away. It was an unspoken agreement between the young Lady and her household.

She remembers, keenly, the feeling of excitement, laced with necessity on those rare ventures into the forest: some strange combination of duty and secrecy.

She feels none of that, here. Only solace, which is becoming more difficult to find every day. The fire interrupts that. And Sif follows, sword in hand.

She always did have a soft spot for songs.

[through_fire_be_reborn]

The flames have marked the trees through much of the forest now, making it a touch harder to track the new path, the residual heat fading swiftly. Vanishing from one branch to twist around a trunk a few feet away, there's an air of a dance to the movements.

'Will I burn this whole of your wood?
My dear prey, my dear prey,
Will I burn the whole that you should?
It ends today, all today~'

The fire continues to move away from Sif, however. It's not even known if she's even been noticed.

So sorry for the lag D:

[brosif]

She follows, transfixed. Knowing that to be foolish, in a place such as this.

"Tell me," she says, cutting through the brush. "Is it necessary that every song in this land focuses on ambivalently defined but certain destruction?"

No worries, I'm plenty laggy with this one m'self.

[through_fire_be_reborn]

A peal of laughter answers her.

'What dull songs must these be that
That sway so plain
Where the words thus inside
Remain so tame~'

<3

[brosif]

"This land's songs are dull," she murmurs. "That at least we agree on."

Princesses, knights, wizards. Everyone performing the roles expected of them.