Chains of Fate [Almyra Bys C Rank Exam/Niyol & Almyra Bys/Private]

"What do you find strange about it, other than how they treat mages?" She asked, curious as they walked out of the town. Once they were out of sight, Niyol stopped and called the soul of the scorpion forth once more. The smokey blue creature appeared before them. Almyra gave it a friendly smile as Niyol climbed on its back and mentioned how it would get them to their destination faster. She nodded and took it, pulling herself up atop the spirit creature's back. Sitting now, she gently patted on its carapace and softly muttered "Thank you, friend." She looked at Niyol again with a smile "Alright, ready to go."

What would have likely been another three day journey could probably be cut down to less than one on this creature, assuming that spirits didn't tire from physical exertion. Still, night would probably fall by the time they made it to the village Almyra's sister lived in, especially if they got off and walked the last few miles as to not be seen riding a giant ghost of a scorpion.

Almyra hadn't slept. She couldn't sleep this close to home. She was too excited at the notion of getting to see her sister once more after being away for so long. She would happily ride atop the massive spirit arachnid, almost bouncing in joy as she knew how close they were when it stopped. By the time Niyol had woken up and stepped off, Almyra would already be ahead of him, trotting off to the village. She wouldn't slow down either, not this close. She jogged along, clutching her bag to her chest to stop it from bouncing around with each step. While she wasn't going particularly fast, faster than a walk for sure, she didn't tire very much for the half-mile run. For one so small, and one who seemed to be a scholar, she was quite fit from all the time she spent exploring the wilderness and wandering from place to place, fleeing from danger, and so on.

She slowed down once they were actually into the village, though they were still on the outskirts. The two came upon a small house. The lights inside were still on. Almyra took her hood off, beaming from ear to ear, her eyes sparking in the light from the windows as she knocked on the door. There was nothing for a moment, but then the door opened to reveal another woman, about two inches taller than Almyra. She had a rather confused look on her face, wondering who could be visiting at this hour, though it quickly turned to one of joy as she saw her sister.

"Timmyyyyyyyy!" With a joyful squeal, Almyra rushed in, embracing her sister lovingly, sending the woman staggering back into the house, but supporting her enough that she didn't fall down. "Almyra..." She spoke in the native language of Desierto, saying it was wonderful to see Almy again before she noticed Niyol and turned her attention to him. She spoke aloud in Fiore English now, "And who is this?" She asked, her manner of speech slightly accented. She was clearly asking Niyol, since Almyra was too busy hugging her to respond.

"I see," She said in whichever language Niyol seemed more comfortable with. "And I don't take any offense from your troubles with our language. The fact that you knew it at all is a pleasant surprise. Please, come in, any friend of Almyra's is a friend of mine." She gently pushed Almy off enough such that she could gesture for Niyol to come in. As the man was able to see her movements more, he would notice that they seemed unnatural, as though she were a puppet of sorts, being moved by external forces rather than moving herself. "Thank you for keeping her safe. Besides, I rarely have the chance to entertain guests."

The two sisters would lead Niyol into the house, where Timara would have Almy and Niyol seated in a small living room while she prepared some food for them: some well-prepared goat meat with assorted rice, lentils, and other vegetables. She carried the dishes out and placed them on a small coffee table in front of them with the same unnatural movements. The more one watched, the more it became obvious that something outside of her body was moving her, though Almyra didn't seem to mind it, and other than a large amount of magic being used, Niyol would be unable to sense anything out of the ordinary going on with her. "Why don't you tell us about your adventures, Almyra?" She asked, to which Almy happily obliged, talking about her various wanderings in Fiore, most of it in the wilderness. She described the various sights she had seen, new things she had tried, people she had met. She only briefly touched on Magnolia, since it wasn't very fun or happy, just needless violence. It took her quite a bit of time to relay all this information, and she was looking quite sleepy by the time she was done.

Timara turned to Niyol. "How about you, Niyol. Is there anything you wish to tell us about yourself, or about any adventures you've gone on, any news from other parts of the world?" Her eyes were lit with a burning curiosity. It was clear she had never been out to explore on her own, despite being a powerful mage.

((Almy/Tim theme))

"I see. Well, thank you for sharing what you have. I wish you well in your future travels, Niyol. Thank you once more for escorting Almyra. I will show you to the guest room." She would lead Niyol to a small room with a bed. It wasn't much, but it was what she had for a guest room. The bed would be comfortable and the room was warm a rather nice temperature for sleeping. "Rest well, and feel free to stay as long as you wish." She said before she returned to the now nodding-off Almyra. She put a gentle hand on her shoulder, causing Almy to perk up and smile sleepily up at her sister before hugging her again. "I missed you."

"I missed you, too. It's good to have you home. But it seems like it's time for you to get some sleep." She said, patting her younger sister's head. Almy whimpered a bit, wanting to stay up and spend more time with her sister, but she recognized that any attempts to fight sleeping would be useless. She would go to the restroom to clean herself up before returning and hugging her sister once more. Almyra would normally stay in the room Niyol was in, though not by her choice. Timara had said that she was old enough that she should sleep by herself, even though she preferred to do so near other people, preferably cuddling with them, so she was quite happy that Niyol was occupying the other bed, giving her an excuse to sleep in the same room as her sister. The two lie down in the same bed, Almyra clinging to her sister's arm.

"Where's Tammy?" Tim asked Almy. "You need to make sure to take good care of her." Almy blinked, having forgotten her doll in her bag she quickly grabbed it before lying down again, once more taking hold of Timara's arm before dozing off. Before she went to sleep, she felt her sister give her a kiss on the head "Sleep well, Almy. I'll see you in the morning." She slept more soundly than she had in a long time of adventuring.

The next morning, there was something wrong. Timara usually woke up fairly early and left Almy to sleep until late morning, but Almyra woke up still holding her sister's arm. She sat up and stretched before looking at her sleeping sister. "Timmy, you have to get up." She said, shaking her, still half asleep. Her sister didn't respond. Slowly waking up, Almyra looked at her sister's face. "Timara?"

No... she's still asleep is all. She thought. "Timmyyy, you said you'd see me in the morning. It's almost noon." She whined, shaking the limp woman harder to no avail. Tears began to form in her eyes as she grabbed the body of her sister, hugging it tightly. "Timmy please!"

Almyra heard Niyol's voice from across the door. It was only now that she was able to accept the truth: her sister was dead. Tears streamed down her face as she looked at the face of her deceased sister. "But... but you promised." She said, her voice barely even a whisper as she pressed her head up against Timara's shoulder. "You promised." She began to rock back and forth a bit, hugging Timara unable to do anything else as she was overcome with grief at losing the one person who mattered most to her in life. The one who had raised her after they were forced out on their own, who had taught her to embrace her magical nature, and the one who gave her her love of exploration and thirst for knowledge. The sound of her sobbing could easily be heard through the door. It may be a good idea for Niyol to inform someone in the village of Timara's death, since Almyra would seem to stricken with grief to do much other than curl up and cry.

During the three days preparation for the funeral, Almyra would be locked away by herself, though she was not grieving. She was studying. She could fix this. Her sister's death was simply an act of entropy, an act of her body becoming too chaotic. She could reverse the chaos, restore enough order to allow her sister to live once more. She didn't sleep, nor did she eat. All there was time for was studying.

Niyol would find himself rather unwelcome at the funeral, had he not chosen to stay away, he would have been forced away. Not only was he an outsider, but through his means of transporting Timara's body, had revealed himself as a mage to the others. Timara was only accepted in life due to her usefulness to the village, and Almyra was only welcomed through her close relations to the woman. Though he would probably notice that Almyra was not present at the funeral, that is until about halfway through. Her sister's body had not yet been lowered into the ground when she came rushing forward, her eyes aglow with her magic. "Stop!" She cried out in her native tongue, her voice shrill and desperate as she ran. One of the men, the sole guard of the village turned to meet her. "What are you doing with that foul magic? Stop this at once and you may come forward."
"I can bring her back!" She answered, trying to rush past him.
"You will not desecrate her corpse with magic!" He shouted, reaching for her as she ran past, grabbing hold of her arm and pulling her back. Almyra twisted around, putting a hand on his chest to push him away, but as she was already making heavy use of her magic, she could not stop herself from hitting him with entropic magic as she did so. The man let out a cry of pain as the skin and flesh on his chest was partially ripped apart and rotted away by the magic, his shirt turning to dust in the area and beginning to rot away to nothing. He staggered backwards as Almyra ran away. He quickly recovered and ran after her, tackling her. The air was knocked from her lungs as she hit the ground. Her face impacted the sand, which dug into her eyes painfully. She coughed and sputtered for breath as she was held down by the guard. "Please!" She rasped out. "I can bring her back..." Tears came to her eyes now, from a mixture of pain, grief, and frustration as she desperately struggled against the stronger man to break free and try to revive her sister as the sand scratched away at her eyes.

Almyra didn't even try to resist Niyol's assault. She knew she wasn't strong enough to take him on, but there was nothing he could do to stop her in the long run. She would bring Timara back. Her embalming would only make it easier as time would affect the body less, allowing her to come back when she was more powerful. But... no Niyol was right. It wouldn't be right to bring her sister back, even though Almy knew it wouldn't be her choice to die without seeing the world. She would continue to wander, it's what Timara would have wanted. She might find some way, a better way to bring her back than with chaos theory.

Niyol let her down and she walked off to the house without a word. She wouldn't need twelve hours to prepare. With Niyol ensuring the house would remain safe despite the absence of residents, she didn't have to worry about locking everything up. She would gather her things and collect what food would last during her travels, leaving the little that was left out for the creatures of the desert. Within an hour or two, she walked up to Niyol, silently pressing her head against his shoulder, ready to leave.